Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes considered a late Impressionist, sometimes considered a Post-Impressionist, Van Gogh took the Impressionist ideas of a snapshot of time and the use of light and color and made them his own. Van Gogh’s Self Portrait shows this technique which he molded to suit his own uses. The paint is layered thickly, great globs rising from the surface of the painting in ways that would have made any artist shudder less than a hundred years before. A light shines on Van Gogh’s right shoulder; his left side is cast in deep shadow. The background is full of the swirling color that Van Gogh is so known for. Shades of blue and white intermingle, bending and swirling in an unseen wind. 

This swirling bands of color are perhaps best scene in Van Gogh’s masterpiece, Starry Night. This night time scene was the view from his hospital window during one of his numerous stays at the hospital. Van Gogh new that there was something wrong with him, that he suffered from depression, and wanted very much to get well. He checked himself into the hospital, bringing his art supplies with him. The swirling light of the stars and moon brings an otherworldly beauty to the serene night painting. It is easy to imagine the gently blowing, swirling wind blowing into the hospital window, the hazy sheen that surrounds the moon and stars after a hot, humid day, and all the world cast into the blue-black glow of the midnight moon.