Free Essays on Vincent Van Gogh to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

Introduction

“Starry, starry night, paint your palette blue and grey. Look out on a summer's day; with eyes that know the darkness in my soul.” (McLean, 1970).
The above lyrics was cited from the ‘70’s phenomenal hit of Don McLean’s song entitled, “Vincent,” but very notable to people as “Starry, Starry Night.” According to the official website of Don McLean, the creation of the lyrics of “Vincent” was due to McLean’s interest in antiques and as he studied Van Gogh’s works, he began to strum his guitar and the music was created (McLean, 2007). Vincent van Continue reading...

Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist who painted almost 900 paintings including self-portraits which mostly deal with the life of the common people (Van Gogh Gallery, “Vincent van Gogh Paintings”). Additionally, van Gogh used his artworks similar to a diary to record his emotions on canvas. Vincent van Gogh was born on 30th March 1853 (Graefe, 1) in the Groot-Zundert, a Dutch parsonage village in an upper middle class family. Being the oldest son in the family, Van Gogh had a brother and a sister. His brother Theo van Gogh, worked as an art dealer, was one of Continue reading...

In the yesteryears, self-portraits were considered the artists’ way of expressing themselves whilst demonstrating their skills in manipulating colours in order to create stunning masterpieces. Due to the invention of the camera, more people are able to capture their ‘moments’ within a flick of a finger through their smartphones, tablets, and digital cameras. In his dissertation, Professor Azar Rejaie noted that one purpose of self-portraiture was for the sake of remembrance, and to honour an artist’s contribution to the society1. This type of painting differs from the regular painting. Painting one’s self requires more attention to the Continue reading...

The Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh created numerous masterpieces of art including self-portraits and sketches showing the daily life of the common people. Although van Gogh was one of the artists of the Post Impressionism in Europe he did not really stick to portraying his subjects as beautifully as he could. The Night Café (Fr. Le Café Nuit) was painted in Arles, France in the year 1888. One particular correspondence about the painting was mentioned by van Gogh in his letter to his brother, Theo dated 6th of August 1888. According to the letter, “the night café was a Continue reading...

It is an interesting thing to learn about some of the outstanding self portraits that different artists have done. Have you ever imagined that if you are an artist you can do a self portrait that could narrate about you several years in the future? The obvious imagination is that artists should just do portraits for other people who are considered famous within the society. However, when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago, I realized that the idea of artists producing their self portraits is something that has been present for a long time in the history of Continue reading...

Project Number

My article is titled “Detroit Institute of Arts brings famed Van Gogh Painting from Musee d’Orsey-Rarely loaned Van Gogh Bedroom in Arles on View February 19-May 28, 2013. This article was published by the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was published on the 28th of January 2013 on the Museum Information Media Room website. The author of the article is not known as that information is not provided on the website. In searching for this article, I used a number of key words that describe the title of the article. The word Van Bogh was key because of Continue reading...

Art, especially, Paintings, can be definitely described as poignant manifestation of human disposition. Paintings can amazingly create vibrations in the mind of the spectator. The colours in the canvases highly produce aesthetic reverberations and are certainly excellent narrators, but the exciting part is that the spectators are free to create their own notions as they perceive the work of art. The colours that the artists use in their paintings have the extremely vital ability to influence and thereby produce an impact in the onlookers. There are myriad psychological effects associated with the different hues of colour, line, texture, and Continue reading...

CHAPTER NINE QUIZ: 1. In Käthe Kollwitz’s Self-Portrait, Drawing, the artist has revealed the expressive capabilities of what medium?
The artist made use of charcoal and chalk for this drawing. Both of these are defined as dry drawing materials (media). It is a self-portrait and illustrates her intense concentration of the artist by using the hard strokes for the arm, which could indicate the movement of the arm. The media is used for the face and the hand more realistically by using volume to render it.
Figure 1: Käthe Kollwitz, Self- Portrait, Drawing, 1933. Charcoal on Continue reading...