Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a post-impressionist painter known for his emotional and expressive use of color and brushwork. He felt isolated from society and expressed existential anguish through his paintings. Key aspects of his style included using wide, expressive brushstrokes and complementary colors. Over his career he experimented with different techniques, from realistic depictions to expressive distortions of form and perspective. His most famous works include The Potato Eaters, The Bedroom, and The Starry Night.

1. Post Impressionism
VINCENT
VAN GOGH

2. Vincent Van Gogh (the Netherlands 1853 – France 1890)
The Dramatic Life of the Artist
- He feels himself isolated from society
- Feeling of anguish and anxiety about the
meaning of human existence
- Desire for a simple pre-industrial life
- Opposed ETHICAL ACTION (action or painting
stimulated by deep interior forces)
MECHANICAL ACTION (rational action
produced in factories and by
industrialization)
He appreciated PEASANTS , MANUAL WORKERS,
marginalized simple people

3. Key Points of Van Gogh’s
Arto wide and flat brushstrokes
(Gauguin)
o Complementary colors used
with scientific approach
(Seurat)
o En plain air to catch the
instant and transitory
quality of a moment
(impresssionism)
o Subjectivation of the
subject: reality imprints on the
observer’s eye retina
(impressionists)
o Art is a contemplation of
nature (impressionism)
• Vortex brushstrokes, heavy
towards different directions
• Complementary colors
used with instinctive
approach
• Use of en plein air but then
deforms it
• Objectivation of the
subject: the self affects the
world of reality
• His painting is dictated by
his desperation (action +
will)

4. The First Phase – The Dutch Period until 1885
The potato eaters , 1885, oil on canvas, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
SUBJECT: humble
people, family of
peasants they eat
the products of their
work (ethical work vs
mechanical work)
World of poverty and
hard work
COLORS: dark palette,
muddy colors (wide
range of brown shades)
DRAMATIZATION of
forms through the use
of strong chiaroscuro
contrast
FACES: look like caricatures ( Daumier’s
realism)

5. The potato eaters , 1885, oil on canvas, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
My dear Theo, […]
You see, I really have
wanted to make it so
that people get the
idea that these folk,
who are eating their
potatoes by the light
of their little lamp,
have tilled the earth
themselves with these
hands they are putting
in the dish, and so it
speaks of MANUAL
LABOUR and — that
they have thus
honestly earned their
food. I wanted it to
give the idea of a
wholly different way
of life from ours —
civilized people.
(Nuenen, Thursday, 30 April
1885)
PAINTING TECHNIQUE vs MECHANICH TECHNIQUE
(factories)
It’s a way of facing reality
In order to catch and grasp its alienating work which
Inner essence: life exstinguishes man and his
ETICH ACTION life: MECHANIC ACTION
Realism
(faces- things
on the table –
poverty)
+
Atmosphere
of
spirituality
and
generosity
Simple peasants sitting at the table

6. The Second Phase – Arles : 1888 - 1889
• From Paris he moved to Southern France : Arles
(1886-Jan.1888)
-Company of Theo
-Admiration of
Impressionists
-Influence from Japanese
prints
-Started to use lighter
palette
-Brushstrokes became
faster and dynamic
-Emphasized expressive
quality of colors
(from Febr. 1888 – April 1889)
-Feels better health condition
-Positively affected by the
sunlight of Provence
-Very prolific period. Lots of
masterpieces
-He was enchanted by local
landscape and light
-Prevalent colors: yellow,
ultramarine, mauve

7. The Bedroom, Oil on canvas , 72.0 x 90.0 cm. Arles: October, 1888
Lines of the floor
and bed are bent,
not straight
Just one window – semi closed, doesn’t let you
see anything outside claustrophobic effect
Two chairs:
symbolize Van
Gogh’s need for
a company
Swaying
pictures:portraits
and Japanese prints
below
Very long
bed , it almost
covers the
door not
allowing it to
be opened
sense of
imprisonment –
no way out
DEFORMED PERSPECTIVE
COLORS:
3 primary + 3
complementary
colors:
Red- green
Yellow- violet
Blue- orange
Thick impasto
brushstrokes

8. The Bedroom, Oil on canvas , 72.0 x 90.0 cm. Arles: October, 1888
SYMBOLICAL MEANING AND INTERPETATION
The bedroom
-Usually an intimate,
private shelter , a,
reassuring place
#
This bedroom
shows signs of the
artist’s frustration
-Sense of
imprisonment
-Sense of
claustrophobia
-Emotional impact
of colors
Van Gogh is waiting for
Gauguin’s arrival in Arles
-He prepares a room for his friend
two chairs, two water jugs, two
bottles, two pillows
unfullfilled wish for partnership
and friendship with his fellow
painter Gauguin.
- He feels anxious , he’s longing
for Gauguin’s presence

9. The Third Phase – St. Remy de Provence (1889-1890)
• Difficult coexistence with the friend Gauguin. Very different characters
and ideas about painting (G. no en plain air but use of memory # Van Gogh)
feeling of anguish and frustration
• Self-admission to St. Paul’s asylum (May 1889-May 1890)
The Starry Night , 1889, oil on canvas Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, US
-View seen from the window of his
Room in the asylum “long time before
sunrise, with nothing but the morning
star, which looked very big." (lett. to Theo)
-the painting depicts a situation of
unrest scene perceived
through the eyes of a man with
“darkness in his soul”

10. The Starry Night , 1889, oil on canvas Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, US
Flamelike
cypress
tree :
connects
earth and
sky. It
should
protect the
sleeping
inhabitats
but
becomes
bad-omen
Mountains and vegetation
become waves and mass
of mud almost swamping
the village
Exploding vortex stars with great luminosity,
moving galaxies dynamic + glaring sky
Convulsive
Brushstrokes
+
thick impasto
Artificial lights of
the village are weak
# glazing sky

11. The Fourth Phase – Auvers from 1890
- Spring 1890 Van Gogh settled in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village in the outskirts of
Paris
- He visited Dr. Gachet stimulated him to keep painting
- By July (29, his death) Van Gogh produced more than 70 paintings
The Church at Auvers
Oil on canvas 94.0 x 74.0 cm. Auvers-sur-Oise: June, 1890
Paris: Musée d'Orsay
Realistic image of the church :
-area of shadow + light on the grass
- Gothic style is recognizable
BUT
NEW is the DEFORMATION
it grows out of a clear, lucid
awareness of reality (modern industrialized word of progress
Local church from 12th cent he disliked)

12. The Church at Auvers Auvers-sur-Oise: June, 1890
Oblique walls: deformation
Expressionist
colors: cobalt
blue with black
brushstrokes
Announces the
coming of a
storm
The grass and
the church
itself seem to
be shaken by
the windforce
Strong
chiaroscuro
effects in the
projection of the
shadow
Dividing path made of parallel brushstrokes (real
element) + wavy and curvy movement as that of
the walls of the church
Cobalt blue
filters through the
windows
As if the church
was full of
compressed
gas about to
blow up
INTERIOR VISION
Foreshadows
expressionism

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk
DON MCLEAN - "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)“
ART GLOSSARY
• still lifes: nature morte
• flat : piatto / flatness: piattezza
• spatial recession: profondità spaziale
• time depth: profondità temporal
• stained glass: vetrate dipinte
• impasto: densa material pittorica
• texture: consistenza
• to depict: rappresentare/ dipingere
• depiction/ portrayal: rappresentazione
• Outline / contour line: linea di contorno
• perspective: prospettiva
• foreground / background: primo piano/ sfondo
• contours: contorni
• brushstroke: pennellata
• to lay down paint: stendere il colore
• dots: puntini
• (multidirectional) dashes: tratti impetuosi
/compulsivi (in più direzioni)
• shape:forme
• wide layer: ampia campitura
• canvas: tela
• brushtip:punta del pennello
• decomposition (to decompose): scomposizione
(scomporre)
• aim/goal/purpose: scopo /obiettivo
• Palette: tavolozza