VINCENT VAN GOGH
Van Gogh’s paintings of Sunflowers are among his most famous paintings. He producted them in Arles, in the south of France, in 1888 and 1889 and were the first to show his signature expressive style. Vincent painted a total of five large canvases with sunflowers in a vase, with three shades of yellow ‘and nothing else’.
‘The sunflower is mine’, Van Gogh once declared, and it is clear that the flower had various meanings for him. The different stages in the sunflower’s life cycle is shown, from young bud through to maturity and eventual decay, follow in the vanitas tradition of Dutch seventeenth-century flower paintings, which emphasise the transient nature of human actions. The sunflowers were perhaps also intended to be a symbol of friendship and a celebration of the beauty and vitality of nature.
Sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity. Much of the meaning of sunflowers stems from its namesake, the sun itself. ... Sunflowers are known for being “happy” flowers, making them the perfect gift to bring joy to someone's (or your) day.
VAN GOGH’S TECHNIQUE
Van Gogh enjoyed painting the sunflowers because they are very sunny and happy.
Looking at his pictures, even from photographs you can see that the paint is applied very thickly using a palette knife directly on the canvas. It gives you texture with variation of tone and light and dark. You can also see the bold circle shapes of the flowers. Van Gogh shows us the flowers very close-up, so they are filling the entire picture plane. The lines of the flowers (not perfect, gangly, prickly, going in all directions), the circles of brush strokes making the painting burst with life and energy.
These paintings captivate the mind and leave you astounded in their simplistic beauty. The flowing wilted steams and the burst of lovely yellow draws ones attention around the painting, without disrupting the balance of the piece.
FLOWER PICTURE
I have found the past few days of confinement quite testing. For this project we wanted to cheer you all up. Using the theme of “Flowers” and we would like you to produce a piece of work that express happiness.
You can use any media whatsoever. Textiles, acrylic, watercolour, mixed media, collage, pastels crayons etc .
Before the Coronavirus lockdown we were due to launch our new gallery and several other new facilities including sound recording studios, our refurbished maker space etc. Our exhibition is work by Students and Members. We will now extend this exhibition with work from
EXAMPLES
Comments