Vincent van Gogh is most widely known for works such as The Starry Night or Sunflowers. Though his most famous works are landscapes, he did some drawings and paintings of interior spaces, such as his bedroom series. Throughout the final years of Vincent van Gogh's life, he struggled with his mental health. Before his eventual suicide, he spent some time in a mental hospital at Saint Rémy-de-Provence. Throughout this time, he worked in a studio to create over a hundred works, many of which he sent to family, friends, and other artists. While the vast majority of his works featured the surrounding landscape (or were copies of other works depicting landscapes), he made some pieces of the interior of the hospital. Since van Gogh's ability to go outside of the hospital depended on his mental state, I believe this had an effect on the works he created while residing there. Two ways in which the interior works and the exterior landscapes differ are through their use of value and line.
It seems as though Vincent van Gogh's career lasted longer than it did, considering how many works of his we still have today. However, his artistic career only lasted ten years, starting in 1880 and ending in 1890 with his suicide. Although he has many great works from his earlier years of painting/drawing, this exhibit will focus on the works made during his time in the hospital of Saint Rémy-de-Provence. It will focus on the comparison and contrasting of the use of color and line between his interior works and the exterior works of that time.
The Starry Night
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: June 1889
Medium: Oil on canvas
Location: The Museum of Modern Art
Arguably Vincent van Gogh's most famous work, The Starry Night is a combination of different views. Created during multiple sessions during the day, the work utilizes an impressive range of blue value with the addition of yellow, grey and black. The swirling lines of the sky, the radiating light from the stars, and the largess of the cypress tree convey van Gogh's fascination with nature. The curves of the tree and the rich, saturated colors of the landscape are bright and welcoming.
Women Picking Olives
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1889
Medium: Oil on canvas
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1995.535)
This work makes use of countless curved lines which lend themselves to create a feeling of energy in the landscape. The marks of the bending trees also contribute tot eh wildness of the work. The warm pink/orange color and gesturing lines of the sky, in addition to the bright yellow of the grass, allow us to almost feel the heat of the sun on that day. Van Gogh worked throughout his career to accurately portray the human figure, but often struggled with it. Throughout most of his works done in the asylum, the figures in his landscapes are without faces. Despite that, the value and line of is work invite the viewer to join in and bask in the sunlight of the day.
Cypresses
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1889
Medium: Oil on canvas
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (49.30)
Van Gogh sought to convey the way things felt to him, and not just the objective way they looked. The cypress trees in this work are larger than life, towering so high that they are cut of by the edge of the canvas. The winding branches reach to the sky and the rich greens and yellows dare you to stop looking. The warm blue/green of the sky is saturated and filled with swirling lines and the swelling fluffy clouds add whimsy to the background. Although the swaying marks of the warm green grass are abstracted, the viewer can almost feel it beneath their feet when looking at it. The carefree sentiment felt in this painting is greatly contrasted with the cool heavy feeling of the interiors Van Gogh created in the hospital of Saint Rémy-de-Provence.
Window in the Studio
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: September-October 1889
Medium: Oil on canvas
Location: The Van Gogh Museum
Featuring a view of Van Gogh's studio within the asylum, this work uses mostly straight lines of varying lengths and thicknesses. These lines portray a sort of rigidity, and the muted color palette of cool yellow and warm red and blue/green give a sense of melancholy and claustrophobia. This is only compounded by the barred windows and the greyish tint to the room and objects within it. This is all contrasted by the welcoming blue color of the sky past the window. The light coming in through the barred windows that hits the frame and the boxes on the lower right hand side give a feeling of hope.
Corridor in the Asylum
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: September 1889
Medium: Oil color and essence over black chalk on pink laid "ingres" paper
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (48.190.2)
This view of the interior halls of the asylum uses a similar color palette to Window in the Studio, and was painted around the same time period. The bottom of the staircase in the foreground featured some curved lines to add shadow, and some of the flooring has latticed lines to depict tile. the majority of the marks used are ones that convey rigidity. The floor at the center of the work has a much lighter muted red to show the. light coming in from the outside. The dark yellows and clay red, as well as cool blue/green are joined by this warmer red orange, to give the feeling of a divide between the welcoming outside and the cold and unfriendly interior.
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