Self Portrait: Van Gogh's Influenced His Life

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Dora Batista December 12, 2014 World History. 2 Self Portrait: How Van Gogh’s Influenced His Life? “Real painters do not paint things as they are… they paint them as they themselves feel them to be” said Vincent Van Gogh. [5] Van Gogh was one of the most important painters of his time; his life was marked by failures and unique paintings. Van Gogh’s mental illness and many failures influenced his paintings throughout his lifetime. Along with his life, Van Gogh had various career and other failures, which helped effect his art. With many difficulties, many of the failures were overcome but helped add an emotional part to his work. At the age of 16, Van Gogh started working as an art learner in his uncle firm, but after 4 years he was moved…show more content…
In one of his paintings, Van Gogh used a very unique type of paintings, the swirls helps give a certain mood to the painting, helping the audience view his painting as an exclusive art piece. “The stylized rings and swirls characteristic of his technique in The Starry Night, for example, which he painted in 1889 while in Saint Rémy” [2] [Appendix 1]. This characteristic from his paintings and style mostly came from his drinking and drugging problems. As stated before, Van Gogh had serious drinking problems, which led to many mental problems in the future. The swirls can help the reader see that he was maybe with his visual scents ruthless. Another aspect that was influenced by his life was the colors used in his paintings. “Vincent Van Gogh used the color yellow mostly during the second period of his career – 1886-1890 – when he became familiar with works by the French Impressionists and began using a brighter palette.” [3] [Appendix 2] There doesn’t have an official reason why he did many of his paintings with yellow, but there are some predictions. Some people believe it is because Van Gogh suffered from glaucoma, a visual problem. Others believe it is because of drinking, which can cause mild hallucinations, mood and self-expression. Different ways of his brushstroke also influenced his paintings because of his feelings. “The rhythms of his brushstrokes spread across the planes of his face, gaining energy.” [4] The way he uses the brush also helps see Van Gogh’s emotions reflection on the painting. The fact that it shows energy demonstrates that he was maybe angry and revolted with his situations. Van Gogh’s emotions are really shown in this painting [Appendix 3]. “The cool blues and greens that he uses are normally calm colors, but when they are contrasted with his vivid red hair and beard they strike a jarring note which perfectly sets the
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