Vincent Van Gogh Head Of A Peasant

July 2, 2015 | Art Gallery

1884 Fine Art Painting
Peasant Character Studies is a series of works that Vincent van Gogh made between 1881 and 1885.
Van Gogh had a particular attachment and sympathy for the working class fueled in several ways. He was particularly fond of the peasant genre work of Jean-Francois Millet and others. He found the subjects noble and important in the development of modern art. Van Gogh had seen the changing landscape in the Netherlands as industrialization encroached on once pastoral settings and the livelihoods of the working poor with little opportunity to change vocation.

Van Gogh had a particular interest in creating character studies of working men and women in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as farmers, weavers, and fishermen. Making up a large body of Van Gogh’s work during this period, the character studies were an important, foundational component in his artistic development.

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Vincent Van Gogh Farmhouse in Nuenen

July 3, 2015 | Art Gallery

Vincent van Gogh Farmhouse in Nuenen (1885)

Farmhouse in Nuenen is a landscape painting of a small farm house.

Cottages is a subject of paintings created by Vincent van Gogh from 1883 and 1885. This is related to the Peasant Character Studies that Van Gogh worked on during the same time period. Inspired by the work of Jean-François Millet and others working in the ‘peasant’ genre, Van Gogh became interested in representing peasant life in his art. To depict the essence and spirit of their life, he for a time lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather for long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in art schools, he wrote, a reflection of his frustrated by traditionalists who focused on technique more than the essence of the subject matter.So thoroughly was he engaged in living the peasant lifestyle that his appearance and manner of speech began to change. This alienated some of his friends and family, but was a cost, he believed, necessary for his artistic development.

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Vincent Van Gogh A Pair Of Leather Clogs

July 15, 2015 | Art Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh A Pair Of Leather Clogs

Van Gogh saw the work and met the founders and key artists of Impressionism, Pointillism and other movements and began incorporating what he learned into his work. Japanese art, Ukiyo-e, and woodblock prints also influenced his approach to composition and painting.

There was a gradual change from the somber mood of his work in the Netherlands to a far more varied and expressive approach as he began introducing brighter color into his work. He painted many still life paintings of flowers, experimenting with color, light and techniques he learned from several different modern artists before moving on to other subjects.

By 1887 his work incorporated several elements of modern art as he began to approach his mature oeuvre. Excellent examples are the Pairs of Shoes paintings, where in the space of four paintings one can observe the difference between the first pair of boots made in 1886, similar to some of his earlier peasant paintings from Nuenen, to the painting made in 1887 that incorporates complimentary, contrasting colors and use of light. Another example are the Blue Vases paintings made in 1887 that incorporate both color and technique improvements that result in uplifting, colorful paintings of flowers.

With the spring of 1887 Van Gogh left the city proper for a visit to Asnières with his friend Émile Bernard. While there his work was further transformed stylistically and through the use of bright, contrasting color and light.

1888 Fine Art Painting
Place of Creation: Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, France
Style: Post-Impressionism
Genre: Still Life

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Vincent Van Gogh A Weaver’s Cottage

July 15, 2015 | Art Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh A Weaver’s Cottage
1884 Fine Art Painting
In 1884, Vincent van Gogh made a series of drawings and paintings of rural artisan weavers and the loomshops in their cottages. Van Gogh was interested in the “meditative appearance” of the weavers.
“A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophize about it, but rather he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn’t think but acts, and he feels how things must go more than he can explain it.” he wrote in 1883. By then rural weaving was not a prosperous trade; income varied dramatically depending upon crop yields for material and market conditions. Weavers were living a poor life, especially in comparison to urban centers of textile manufacturing nearby such as Leiden. The rural artisan’s livelihood had become increasingly precarious.
Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, “Their life is hard. A weaver who stays hard at work makes a piece of about 60 yards a week. While he weaves, his wife has to sit before him, winding – in other words, winding the spools of yarn – so there are two of them who work and have to make a living from it.”

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Vincent Van Gogh Head Of A Man Print

August 2, 2015 | Art Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh Head Of A Man
1885 Fine Art Painting
Peasant Character Studies is a series of works that Vincent van Gogh made between 1881 and 1885.
Van Gogh had a particular attachment and sympathy for the working class fueled in several ways. He was particularly fond of the peasant genre work of Jean-Francois Millet and others. He found the subjects noble and important in the development of modern art. Van Gogh had seen the changing landscape in the Netherlands as industrialization encroached on once pastoral settings and the livelihoods of the working poor with little opportunity to change vocation.
Van Gogh had a particular interest in creating character studies of working men and women in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as farmers, weavers, and fishermen. Making up a large body of Van Gogh’s work during this period, the character studies were an important, foundational component in his artistic development.