Still Life in Red

For example, the shelf cutting the picture right across horizontallyas it does in the blue one struck me as uncomfortable. Softening it helped the composition a bit, I think. I also prefer the way the front edge of the shelfworks. Letting it get soft and vague at the edges meant that the harder edge in the middle, below the bowl,naturally draws your eye to that part of the painting, at least I think it does. I emphasised that by bringingup the light on that part of the shelf too. I first started messing about with that kind of thing in the seriesof small still life drawings , and it can reallyshift the focus of the picture.

The goal is always to make a more convincing feeling of reality,but also to make a better picture too. I was almost grateful when the light started to fade and I had to stop.

I have to admit, working fast andkeeping my concentration up for the whole day, pretty much without a break, was quite tiring. In terms of thepaintings, I think the balance of tones is better in the red one, particularly on the tomato. I think the highchroma sent me a bit haywire on the blue one and I got it a bit too light in relation to the other tones in thepicture.

Like the clementine painting, I proceeded to a full colour version of this subject the next day, with what I canonly describe as appalling results. That painting was a real struggle. It all hinged around the high chroma of thetomato, it gave me a lot of trouble, and the more I fiddled with the painting to try and sort it out, the worseit got. Eventually I had to admit defeat. But after a few days of licking my wounds, I came back to give it anothergo, spending two days on it this time. The second bash was a slight improvement, but at the end of the day thissubject was best left as an exercise.

The tomato was included to force me to deal with high chroma as tone only, andin that sense it worked admirably. Join over other artists and get free updates. I'm a mostly self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you along on yours. Many of the same painters also described their works as Synthetism a closely related movement. Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in to describe the development of French art since Manet.

Fry used the term when he organized the exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism. Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: Characteristic features of Ukiyo-e woodprints include their ordinary subject matter, the distinctive cropping of their compositions, bold and assertive outlines, absent or unusual perspective, flat regions of uniform colour, uniform lighting, absence of chiaroscuro , and their emphasis on decorative patterns. But this blade of grass leads him to draw every plant, and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then animals, then the human figure… isn't it almost a true religion which these simple Japanese teach us, who live in nature as though they themselves are flowers.

And you cannot study Japanese art, it seems to me, without becoming much gayer and happier. One of the most transformational elements of Van Gogh's work during his period in Paris was his use of color. Van Gogh used complementary, contrasting colors to bring an intensity to his work. Two complementary colors of the same degree of vividness and brightness placed next to one another produce an intense reaction, called the "law of simultaneous contrast. From his days in the Netherlands Van Gogh became familiar with Delacroix 's color theory and was fascinated by color.

In Paris, Van Gogh eagerly studied Seurat 's use of complementary colors. Excited to try out complementary studies, Van Gogh would divide a large canvas into several rectangular sections, trying out "all the colors of the rainbow. He saw Monticelli's use of color as an expansion of Delacroix's theories of color and contrast. He also admired the effect Monticelli created by heavy application of paint. In the still life series, particularly of flowers, Van Gogh experimented with color relationship, such as complementary, contrasting colors which are colors across from one another on the color wheel.

A second color relationship, harmonious colors are colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel.

He also used the trio of colors, where the relationship on the color wheel forms a triangle. To help him choose colors for his studies, Van Gogh collected strands of different shades of yarn to experiment with color combinations. He rolled selected strands together into balls in combinations matching specific paintings, such as the yellow and ocher combinations found in Still Life with Quince Pears and Lemons F The box and his sample balls of yarn have survived and are held by the Van Gogh Museum. Soon after Van Gogh arrived in Paris, he began painting still lifes with the goal of experimenting with contrasting colors.

He wrote to a friend in England that his goal was to create "intense coloration, not gray harmony. His started with still lifes of flowers. At first his still lifes maintained the subdued tones that he used in the Netherlands. The more he became immersed in his painting, he continually added brighter colors to his work until he was using colors directly from the tube.

Then he moved on to other subjects from everyday life that reflect his use of vivid colors and a free brushstroke. The energy that Van Gogh put into his Still Life paintings is representative of his habit for "working systematically, concentrating on a theme until he had exhausted it. Flowers were the subject of many of Van Gogh's paintings in Paris, due in great part to his regard for flowers. Knowing Van Gogh's interest in making still life paintings of flowers, friends and acquaintances in Paris sent bouquets of flowers weekly for his paintings.

Van Gogh carefully studied the art of floral arranging , the works of Dutch masters , Japanese woodcut prints and Impressionist still life arrangements to master his paintings of flowers. She learned a great deal about "structure, style, form, balance, harmony and rhythm" from studying the paintings by great masters of flowers. The longer he was in Paris, the more he had an Asian aesthetic for flowers. As he said to his brother Theo: Chrysanthemums, often depicted in Japanese woodcut prints, were painted by Impressionists primarily in floral arrangements.

The most desired chrysanthemum was an autumn-blooming variety from Japan. The background is painted with Pointillist brushwork. The painting was made with complementary, contrasting colors of blue and orange. Van Gogh was not a purist; he varied the shades of contrasting colors and chose subjects that he enjoyed, such as painting still lifes. Fritillary is a bulb that flowers in the spring with between three and ten flowers for each bulb.

Imperial fritillaries , with an orange-red flower, were grown in French and Dutch gardens at the end of the 19th century. The Gladiolus , plural Gladioli, was one of Van Gogh's favorite flower. He especially enjoyed how they opened up like a fan after having been placed in a vase. Vase with Red Poppies F is another illustration of how Van Gogh used red and green primary, complementary colors to make both colors appear more intense, set before a blue background. He paints pink in the unopened buds and sienna in the table. Van Gogh's paintings of rose, or any flowers, are evocative of his quote, "Ah, what portraits could be made from nature with photography and painting.

Two Cut Sunflowers F is one of a sequence of four paintings that Van Gogh made in the summer of The first Van Gogh Museum, F was a preparatory sketch. Paul Gauguin had the second and third Two Cut Sunflower paintings F, F and hung them proudly in his Paris apartment above his bed. In the mids he sold them to fund his trip to the South Seas. The image of the four sunflowers was made on a large canvas. Vase with Zinnias and Geraniums F reflects the influence of Adolphe Monticelli — in its vivid color and impasto paint.

Van Gogh admired, and later collected, Monticelli's work. He admired Monticelli's use of color as an expansion of Delacroix's theories of color and contrast.

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Secondly he admired the effect Monticelli created by heavy application of paint called " impasto ". It was partially Monticelli, from Marseilles, who inspired Van Gogh's southerly move to Provence in He felt such kinship for the man, and desire to emulate his style, that he wrote in a letter to his sister Wil that he felt as if he were "Monticelli's son or his brother. Picking up elements of Impressionism Van Gogh painted with a more vigorous brushstroke, with thick application of paint, called " impasto " which created a three-dimensional relief.

Unable to pay for models to pose for portraits, Van Gogh threw himself heartily into painting still lifes of flowers, "red poppies, blue corn flowers and myosotis, white and red roses, yellow chrysanthemums. As he said to a friend, he wished for his paintings to take on intense colors, rather than the grey tones. Basket of pansies F is an example of Van Gogh's experimentation with contrasting colors. In this case the contrasting pair are purple and yellow. Van Gogh found pansies an example of natural color theory.

Vase with Hollyhocks F was painted in the summer in contrasting shades of red and green.

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Van Gogh believed that he could express the season of the year by the colors that he used in his work. He experimented in this painting with creating an image that was nearly one-dimensional. Lilacs , , Hammer Museum , Los Angeles b. The vase holds a lively selection of daisies and anemones made with a range of colors. Dark red-brown is enlivened by shades of yellow, pink and white. He particularly works with the various shades of yellow, likely having selected colors for the combinations of color and shades that he wanted to portray.

The vase is painted in a contrasting shade of blue. Techniques of Impressionism and Divisionism are reflected in his brushstrokes of the background, having used broken strokes and dots of color. Van Gogh preferred to select items from daily life to portray in his still life paintings. With Flowerpot with Chives F Van Gogh used a thin brush to carefully create this painting of a pot of chives. Contrasting colors of red and orange against green are used in this work.

Still Life with French Novels and a Rose is a painting with a number of novels with bindings of contrasting colors: The books are meant to represent seven Parisian novels Van Gogh owned, [51] that Van Gogh described as "a great source of light", regardless of the somber literature they contain. The dashes of lemon, pink, orange and green seem to bring life to the books, like the blossoming flower that [52] also adds a feeling that the paintings is made for a woman.

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In Van Gogh gave this painting and another to his sister, Wil for her birthday. The books are Naturalist novels: Van Gogh, an avid reader, was particularly interested by French Naturalists. To his sister Wil , he once wrote "they paint life as we ourselves feel it, thereby fulfilling the need we have for people to tell us the truth. Van Gogh made Pair of Shoes F from a pair of boots he purchased at a flea market. He wore the boots on an extended rainy walk to create the effect he wished for this painting, which may have been a tribute to the working man.

The Van Gogh Museum speculates that they may also be symbolic for Van Gogh of his "difficult passage through life. Russell had painted a portrait of Van Gogh that he dearly loved. Russell selected these works at a time when Van Gogh had begun to make more colorful work.

Russell's selections indicate that he understood who Van Gogh was and the messages about the peasant or working man that he wished to convey through his work. On the table sits a glass of absinthe, its green-yellow liquid lighter for window's sunlight and in contrast to the brown background. Absinthe was popular to Van Gogh and other artists both as a drink, although toxic and in some cases deadly, and because of its unique color, it was also favored as a subject for paintings.

Absinthe may have significantly contributed to Van Gogh's poor health. When he lived in Paris, absinthe was a popular drinks among artists. Many of Van Gogh's symptoms following his arrival in Paris are indicative of absinthe poisoning: Anecdotally, one cold Parisian day Van Gogh, dressed more like a cattle drover than an urban artist, peddled a painting of pink shrimp on pink paper to a shopkeeper who sold old ironworks and inexpensive oil paintings.

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Out of charity, the man gave the hungry Van Gogh five francs less than a dollar. With thoughts of the novel about a prostitute, "La Fille Elisa" by Edmond de Goncourt , Van Gogh gave her the five francs and quickly moved on his way. Still Life with Bloaters also Still Life: Vincent's behavior could be disruptive and unnerving to Theo and others.