Arles

Throughout our lives, we encounter many people, groups and ideas who leave a sort of impression on us, both positive and negative. Similarly, in art history there have been multiple preceding artist movements like the impressionists, who have impacted artists that were a part of other subsequent movements, like the fauvists or expressionists. The similarities between Maurice de Vlaminck's "Chatou Bridge" (1907) and Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" (1889) reflect some impressionism qualities…

Science and a traveling mindset are compatible with each other and share some qualities. Alain de Botton in his essay “On Habit,” presents the concept of a traveling mindset. A traveling mindset means seeing everyday places like a great opportunity for adventure. De Botton argues that by paying attention to the details around, people can fight against the boredom of their routine. Also habituation can be reversed by developing a traveling mindset because it helps discovering how things really…

simple portrait of an artist, but it is much more than that. The art piece, Painter on the road to Tarascon, or “The Painter on his way to work” was painted in oil on a canvas by the artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh did the canvas in the city of Arles, France around July of 1888, and completed in August that same year. The colors on the canvas were a mixture of warm and cool colors, portraying a man walking with his artwork, and the style done was a mixture of impressionist, realist, and…

Starry Night and Number One Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Jackson Pollock's Number One are two very well known paintings in the art world. Both of these pieces were painted by iconic artists who have impacted the arts, and essentially made it into what society knows it as today. Both Van Gogh and Pollock are admirable artists, especially for breaking the norms of their times with their abstract techniques. Both Starry Night and Number One were created in the 1800-1900’s time frame,…

Van Gogh's Sunflower series was intended to decorate the room that was set aside for his house guest, Gauguin, in his studio and apartment in Arles. Using lush brushstrokes to build up the texture of the sunflowers, Van Gogh employed a wide spectrum of yellows to describe the blossoms, due in part to recently invented pigments that made new colors and tonal nuances possible. Van Gogh used the…

Plato explains in his dialogue to Phaedrus that “Madness, provided it comes as the gift of heaven, is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings . . . Madness comes from God, whereas sober sense is merely human” (Plato). For centuries, experts have wondered if there really is a link between mental illness and artistic success: in large part due to the seemingly high amount of successful artists who have suffered from a form of illness. While many people are familiar with the…

In the mid-1800’s to the early 1900’s two artists are responsible for the modern art movement these two artists are Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. These two artists have very distinct style of painting, however, they both helped to shape the direction of painting would go over the following century. Monet and Van Gogh painted their lives on a canvas and in their thoughts and words. Through both of the men’s paintings we can understand the struggle as artists during this time in history. The…

Admiration for the policies instituted by the English Revolution was noted by the French as early as 1782 when the French foreign minister noted that England “in its constitution and in the establishments which it has permitted her to form, resources which are lacking to us.” (B. Stone, p. 14). The French minister further laments about English “advantages which our monarchical forms do not accord us (B. Stone, p. 14). Louis XVI’s reign of France from 1774 to 1792 was characterized by financial…

"I pledge that in the following paper, I have not represented the work of another as my own work without appropriately acknowledging the source." Paul Rodriguez In the 19th Century, France experienced some influential art movements which led to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Impressionists favored independent exhibitions, instead of government -controlled institution. Post Impressionism was the title bestowed upon the people who opposed the Impressionists. Camille Pissarro's The Goose…

The Starry Night is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as a part of their permanent collection and depicts Van Gogh’s view from the window of his asylum room at the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Hospital near Arles, France, in which he had admitted himself to after a series of seizures. Included in his view is an idealized village engulfed in a swirling, star-filled night sky that appears to be on fires, surrounded by dark towering cypress trees stretching towards…