Week 18 - Impressionism and Post Impressionism. Artwork Analysis.

For this artwork analysis task, I chose one of Vincent Van Gogh self-portraits: "Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat." Van Gogh is one of the most renowned figures in art history, due to his eccentric painting style and tumultuous life. He was an adept of the post-impressionist movement, which reflects heavily in his paintings through its thick layers of paint applied in broad, unblended lines to reflect certain emotions.

Unlike Impressionists, who were mostly focused on recreating the subject in a realistic way, Post-Impressionists concentrated more on bringing forward the subjective view the painter had of his painting's subject. In this case, the strokes, applied in a circular shape on the background around the portrait and the lines that seem almost like they concentrate to the centre of the face, bring the attention of the viewer towards the focal point, the portrait itself. The eyes, the sole area where only a single colour has been applied - green - are framed by these lines, bringing them into focus as they stare at the viewer. 

The way the unblended strokes of strong colour are being used reflects the mental state of the painter, who is also the subject of the portrait, as well as his view of himself: the painting gives off the feeling of a turbulent, chaotic personality, and of an anxious and troubled mind.

The face is the only area where warm colours were used, though a faint echo of yellow can be visible in the hat too. Even so, the face is where they are most concentrated and vivid and the use of orange, the warmest colour, contrasting with the blue - coldest colour and it's complementary - background guides the viewers attention towards the face. The shadows themselves are also really colourful: on the left side of the face, green is used more heavily to create the impression of shadow, while on the grey hat blue is used for this. On the clothes, a greyish brown was used in the darker parts.

Vincent Van Gogh -Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, 1887

In conclusion, as a post-impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh concentrated more on emotion and the feeling his paintings would evoke, as well as his artistic interpretation of the subject, rather than the degree of realism in his work.