Vincent Van Gogh Research Paper

Vincent Van Gogh67 is known by most people for his cubism work. Not many people know about his earliest works. They also do not know about all of his portraits and how they change though out his lifetime. Because of that reason is why I chose to write about the evolution of Van Gogh’s self-portraits. Van Gogh painted at least 30 self-portraits from 1886 through 1889, an amazing number of likenesses to complete in such a short time span. They represent his most active years as a master artist, and all carry the distinctive van Gogh intensity with which every picture he ever made was imbued. The first ever self-portrait by Van Gogh that survived is dated 1886. His paintings have varied from being realist, pointillism, and impressionism. Throughout …show more content…
The painting was painted on canvas using oil. This painting is strongly influenced by Dutch art. This self-portrait was painted before Van Gogh's move to Paris. It is typical of his earlier paintings. His earlier paintings are known for being more realistic. The dark earthy tones, which are characteristic of traditional Dutch painting, are used to create an image of humble dignity. This specific work is influenced by the art of Anton Mauve. Anton Mauve was Van Gogh's cousin-in-law and tutor in the early 1880's. The style of the image, particularly the beard and hair, bears a strong resemblance to a Mauve himself. You can clearly tell this was one of his first paintings because it was so realistic and natural colored. His later works tend to be less realistic and have more colors in …show more content…
This portrait displays the influence of Impressionism on Van Gogh's use of color and brushwork. The Impressionists tried to create the color of natural light by only using pure hues as seen in the colors of the rainbow. They banished premixed browns, blacks, and greys from their paintings. Instead, they replaced them with unmixed dashes of pure color. For example, Van Gogh's jacket is painted with red and green which fuse together on the canvas. Some areas mix naturally to form a brown, but some still retain the dashes of the pure unmixed colors. These mix optically in the eye of the spectator and increase the vitality of the color. The vigor of Van Gogh's brushwork heightens the expressive qualities of this self-portrait. The physical texture of his brushstrokes helps to convey the roughness of his tweed jacket and the softness of his felt