Vincent Van Gogh's Early Modernism

Vincent van Gogh is one of the world’s most well-known artists. He was the son of a pastor and was brought up in a religious atmosphere. He thought his true calling was to preach the gospel like his father. He became a preacher in a small coal mining town. This is when he starting becoming very interested in the people and things that surrounded him. He became an artist at the age of 27.

There have been different art forms that have come and go over the course of time. Hence I will discuss, two significant movements like Post-impressionism and Pop art. Two important artists from these movements are, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol. There are many differences and very few similarities between these two movements and artists, although more differences. Van Gogh is one of the most captivating artists of post-impressionism. . Throughout his career Van Gogh has painted many works. One of those magnificent paintings is “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh. In the other hand we will discuss one of the popular paintings “ Gold Marilyn” by Andy Warhol. Warhol is also the most famous of the Pop Artists and played a major role in making the art movement popular.

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

In my research / readings of my chosen Artist, I found a lot of information about them that I will descibe individually. Based on the biography, It has been stated that Vincent “was a most well known post-impressionism Artist, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, he was highly emotional, lacked self-confidence and struggled with his identity and with direction.” (Templeton Reid) In the late 1800’s is when Vincent basically made the decision to become an Artist, in which he wanted to provide some type of Happiness because he was able to create beauty (Templeton Reid). As you review the art chosen above by Vincent Van Gogh, you will notice the colors used were dark i.e. Greens, Oranges, Blues, with splashes of yellow to create the sun, which led me to believe that maybe this was when he was in the dark place of his life. In the Van Gogh painting, I see big trees with the nice bright sun shining over the blue water, while looking at the trees it makes me feel safe because of the openness of the surrounding space, also the brightness of the sun and the coolness of the water makes me calm and relaxed, it’s just something about being in nature that gives me a sense of peace and direction, nothing to distract or disturb me.

Modernism describes the ideology of the art and design that were produced during the modernist period. There has been a lot of controversy about when modernism started, yet many believe it initiated sometime in the late 19th century and continued to the early 20th century. The modernist movement was meant to be a break from traditions and it was set up to separate the value of certain works from the conservative realism. For instance, Unlike the traditional art that was aesthetic, this movement was more about space and form. In modernist design, shape and organization of products and buildings were based on their functional requirements. As a result, designs became simpler without the traditional decorative concepts. The idea behind the

Modernism is the term of deviating from the norm. In the early 1900s, modernism influenced women’s role in society by providing more opportunities, jobs, and role models for girls today, in society.

The people back in the 19th century really didn’t accept Van Gaogh’s truthful and emotionally morbid way of expressing the way of art is to himself. It finally was seen as art through the people’s eyes. This set a stage of art that is now known as Expressionism. It is best characterized by the use of symbols and a style that expresses the artist’s inner feelings about his subject. His style of painting is exemplified by a projection of the painter’s inner experience onto the canvas he paints on. Van Gogh’s paintings are done with his feelings that goes on in his life. (Mark Harden’s Artchive)

Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh was an inspiring artist, whose unique techniques and styles captured the attention of many artists and critics. Van Gogh’s emotions and surroundings was what interpreted his paintings. When it comes to the topic of Van Gogh’s artistic approach, each of his pieces displayed a brilliant use of color along with molding color and harmony with applying the elements and principles of art. While developing his techniques, Van Gogh was inspired by many artists such as Anton Mauve and Jean Francois Millet, adopting and changing his perspective into his style for his paintings. Other contemporary artists were inspired by Van Gogh, such as Henri Matisse, and

Modernism was a movement that was developed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism developed due to the changes happening in societies at the time. Around the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a rise in the industrial society’s where there were advancements in technologies and machines, and a rapid growths in cities. This lead to a change in cultural trends and philosophies, which is known as modernism. Modernism was well known for the rejection on traditional way, such as the arts and beliefs. It rejected the idea of realism and religious beliefs. During these years modernism could be distinguished by two aspects, High and Low Modernism.

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most recognized artists in the world. Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. Van Gogh was born into a family of six children in which his father was a pastor and his mother was an artist. He was named after his stillborn brother who died exactly one year before he was born.

Vincent Van Gogh was formed by his social, cultural and historical context. This is expressed clearly in the underlying stories of both paintings, Starry Night, 1889 and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889. Both of these paintings portray a narrative relating to Van Gogh significantly as he emotionally connects to the subject in each painting. Van Gogh’s aim of these subjective works was to express meaning through colour and express the painting to a more personal emotion for the viewer. Van Gogh belonged to a small style of Post Impressionism which was a reaction against Impressionism and their formality.

A swirling spectrum of blues and yellows is what captivates most anyone when they see “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh. However, the way Van Gogh created this painting, along with all of his other masterpieces, is what most viewers give little thought. Van Gogh has a signature look to each of his paintings. His unique style is marked by the thick, short, layered brush strokes that make up his paintings. This type of brushwork is very much obvious in each of his pieces, “Starry Night” in particular. As noted in an article by Maria Popova, it is thought that Van Gogh suffered from various mental illnesses in his lifetime, including anxiety and depression, as well as having experienced symptoms of bipolar disorder (Popova). Each of these conditions had some type of affect on his brain; therefore, it is possible that his dramatized brush strokes were a consequence of his mental state. Though every artist has characteristic attributes to their work, the distinctive style of art that is produced by those who suffer from mental disturbances, like Van Gogh, may simply be a symptom of their disease.

The Modernist Period was first a reaction against the previous Victorian culture. Intellectuals and artists of the 20th century believed that the previous era’s way of doing things was a cultural dead end and they wanted to break away from traditions.

What defines art? More importantly, who defines good or bad art? Does that make one who deals with art in any way is a judge in their own right? When viewed in that perspective, art is practically subjective in its natural state. Perhaps, that is why the artistic community is so diverse. It could be said that each of those categories are composed of artists who prefer that certain style of expression. Vincent Willem van Gogh, generally speaking, falls into the category of being an Post Impressionist, with a twist.

Modernism was a broad period surrounding many movements. It covered from 1860 to 1970. This movement challenged the traditional thinking with the aim to change the way artists represented the world. Modernism refers to this