Vincent Van Gogh

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The piece of art I choose to deconstruct was a self portrait of Vincent van Gogh he drew in 1889. I saw the painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The way the self portrait was done is that it is an oil painting on canvas. The background is a dark blue, with him wearing a lighter blue colored smock, white undershirt, yellow-orange hair, and a pale gaunt face. The color used also adds emphasis to the painting. This is due to the main colors being contrasting colors the yellow-orange being a warm color and blue being a cooler color. Unlike some of the other self portraits Vincent van Gogh did that were in lighter and brighter colors that showed that he was in a better place in life and mentally the depressing colors used show that mentally and in life he was depressed …show more content…

The brushstrokes are also harder and rushed looking adding to the harshness of the paining and the message it gives. The shapes used in this painting have sharper colors used for his face which gives him the effect of looking sick, the smock uses smoother lines that give a flowing look that makes him seem underweight, and the palette is a square. Vincent van Gogh drew mainly subjects such as landscape, still life, portraiture, but what he is most remembered for are his self-portraits. Vincent van Gogh painted this while he was at the asylum at St.-Rémy. He had admitted himself after he had another mental breakdown. This was the first thing he painted after he felt good enough to do it and it was done all in one setting. He believed that the only way he would get better is if he did more work. When I look at the painting what I see is the depression of a tortured soul. It is evident though that he hasn’t given up though. His life was hard and he hadn’t been given the credit he was due yet he never stopped painting. Even after breaking down mentally and spending a month in bed he continued to paint. And the first thing he did was a haunting self portrait to show the depression he

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