Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, born in March 30, 1853, in Zundert, the Netherlands, was an eccentric artist, member of the post-impressionism movement. 

Van Gogh followed his artistic impulses since a very young age but not painting, he liked drawing at the time. His career in the art business started from a very young age, by the time he was 16 years old he worked in an art firm, where he sold art of other people, but never his own.

In the lapse of 1883-1886, Van Gogh lived in 2 towns, Nuenen and Antwerp, where he developed his first works as an emerging artist with his first major artwork, "the potato eaters", which depicted a poor family that was having dinner in a very obscure scenery.

After that period Van Gogh moved to paris to discover the boundaries of his talent, he lived in Paris from 1886 to 1888. Here in Paris, van Gogh experienced being in the epicenter of the arts, this influenced him in the way that he started using more vivid and mixed colors, like in the portrait he made for Henri de Toulouse, among the other collections he had.

From Paris he moved to Arles, still in france, Arles is the place his art had its pinacle, because he was suffering of a mental illness. he lived in this town in 1888 and 1889. He was often accused of harassing women and fighting with people, for those reasons the citizens decided to put him in an asylum, where by fortune he could be dedicated completely to his paintings.

After living in arles for a year he moved again but this time to Saint-Rémy for another year (may 1889-may 1890) in this town he was still imprisoned, but was allowed short field walks, which led to his paintings of cypresses, fields, and landscapes, some of which are some of the most famous paintings in the world.

For the last month of his life (may-june 1890) Van Gogh moved one last time to Auvers-sur-oise, where he painted his last paintings, maybe not the most famous ones, but some of the most beautiful ones.

He committed suicide on july 29th 1890, due to a mental crisis he was living as an artist and person. In his whole life he just sold one painting of his own, then to be recognized as one of humanities greatest artists after his death. 

Here are some of his best works:

When: 1887

Where: Paris, France

Why: Because in this stage of his life he painted many self-portraits.

Name: Self Portrait, Spring

Why I like it: Because of the combination of the bluish and reddish colors making a very natural face and hair.

 

When: 1889

Where: Arles, France

Why: Because it was Vincent´s only way to express himself in the asylum.

Name: Wheat field with cypresses

Why I like it: Because of how the strokes create that natural movement.

When: 1888

Where: Arles, France

Why: Because it was the only thing he liked and was allowed to do at the asylum.

Name: View of aAles with irises

Why I like it: Because of its colors and natural flow

When: 1889

Where: Saint-Rémy, France

Why: Because he was inspired that lovely night

Name: The starry night

Why I like it: Because of the tranquility it sends, and its contrasts.

Impressionism and Post-impressionism

IMPRESSIONISM

Impressionism was a movement initiated in France during the 1870´s an lasted through the 1880´s. It had very particular characteristics, that can´t be found in any other period, the most important ones are:

• Little or none detail in the painting.
• The use of the brushstrokes to create pictures.
• Not mixing the colors but Layering them.
• Paintings resemble daily life events.
• The use of vibrant colors.
• Never using black.
• Always happy scenes (to motivate people after the war).  
• Artists started painting outside the workshops due to the invention of tubed pigments.

One of my favorite impressionist paintings is Claude Monet´s "Bordighera":

• Author: Claude Monet
• Date: 1884
• Where: France
• I like it because: The imperfect brushstrokes create a very astonishing natural movement with it´s curves in the leaves, the trunk and in the water, is natural and beautiful.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Post-Impressionism appeared in the late 1880`s just after the impressionism, they share most of their characteristics but some of those changed and some prevailed:

• More detail was added. (NOT always)
• Sometimes they used color black.
• Brushstrokes became more defined. (NOT always)
• Resembled daily events and landscapes.
• the rest was partially the same as impressionism.

By far my favorite post-impressionist artist is Van Gogh, which i think his masterpiece was " wheat field with cypresses":

• Author: Vincent Van Gogh.
• Date: 1889.
• Where: Arles, France.
• I like it because: The flux of the strokes is so smooth it creates amazing realness and tranquility, but keeping the characteristics of the Post-Impressionism.

Middle Ages Painting

Painting in the Middle Ages

During the middle ages, painting had a very big impact in the society, because, as it was related to religion , painting was not underrated.

The middle ages divide in 3 main eras:

1. Early middle ages: centuries V-X. Started after the fall of Rome. military governments were established in most of Europe, with loads of  wars to take the power of a region.
2. High middle ages: centuries XI-XIII. Started when the crusades started. crusades took over the military and political landscape of the era, also affecting economics of the kingdoms.
3. Late middle ages: centuries XIV-XV. Starting with the great famine. great plagues killed Europe`s population, leaving reduced kingdoms and cities to ashes. it was a difficult time.

Art in the middle ages wasn't very variated in the terms of topics, the main topics were: religion, war and history along with myths and legends.

Here are some of my favourite art works from each period of the middle ages:

Early Middle Ages:

              

• Name: The coronation Gospels
• Author: Probably Greek artist.
• When it was painted: Century VIII.
• Why it was painted: For a book of gospels.
• Where it was painted: In the Byzantine empire
• Why I like it: Because it has lots of details compared to other paintings of the era.

High Middle Ages:

• Author: French codex writer
• When it was painted: 1110 A.D.
• Why it was painted: For a page of a french codex
• Where it was painted: In France
• Why I like it: Because of the mix of the literature , mythology and painting, which creates an interesting picture.

Late Middle Ages:

• Name: Reconstruction of the temple of jerusalem
• Author: Guillame de tyre
• When it was painted: Century XV
• Why it was painted: For the use of a church.
• Where it was painted: Tyre
• Why I like it: Because of the resemblance of the last period of middle ages and it looks more like from the renaissance. Also is very detailed.

Painting

Painting

Painting is one if not the most variated type of art, because is the pure thoughts expressed in color by the artist himself.

Some of the best artists of all arts are painters, maybe because is a "simple" meaningful art.

painting, as the other arts, has evolved during time here is a list of the phases:

• Antiquity
• Medieval
• Renaissance
• Baroque
• Contemporary

The greatest era for painting was the renaissance, because artists like Da Vinci developed their abilities to the maximum, creating masterpieces like Da Vinci´s Gioconda or Michelangelo´s paintings in the sixtine chapel.

My favourite masterpiece is from this particular period, its called "Adam´s creation" which depicts God himself creating Adam, the first man. Here it is:

• Painted by Michelangelo.
• was painted between 1511 and 1512.
• Is located in the sixtine chapel, The vatican.
• Was painted for the decoration of the chapel, among many other masterpieces.

I personally love this painting because of the details and its size, it must have taken a lot of effort, also because it has a hidden meaning; the red cloth-like cloud that surrounds God resembles a human brain or cranium, because there was the belief that "God is in everyone´s mind".