By Nikolai Robinson
It can be said that Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most revered and recognized painters who ever lived. The pain and turbulence of his life mixed with his vivid perspective of ambience and environment are realized in some of his most iconic works, such as “The Starry Night,” “Café Terrace at Night,” “Wheatfield with Crows,” and his self-portraits. He more frequently painted landscapes, rooms, flowers, and portraits, but he also had a phase in which he painted a lot of fruit.
This phase took place in between the years 1885 and 1888, and consisted of many colorful, Impressionistic still-life paintings of fruit. This marked a stark difference between the darker, Romantic-style paintings he made in the mid-1880s, and signaled the transition into the vibrant style that he’s most known for today. At this time, Van Gogh had started living in Paris with his brother Theo, who helped to sell his art to wealthy investors. He had also started showing symptoms of an unknown mental disorder, including hallucinations, nightmares, anxiety, and severe aggression. (Modern psychologists suggest that he was probably afflicted with more than one disorder.)
However, art historians claim it was for this exact reason that Van Gogh started to paint fruit. The challenges of capturing the complex shapes (mainly spheres) and their relationships with light through lines and color calmed his mind and eased his manic moods. It was through his research and artistic experimentation of this period that he came to discover the new wave of French Impressionism happening on the art scene of Paris.
From then until his tragic death, he was an impressionistic painter. This means that he focused on the general essence of the image instead of providing a realism through a prioritization of small details. He does this by a) utilizing short, thick strokes of paint, b) creating a richer, more vivid image by rarely mixing or blending colors, and c) playing with the illusion of light in the painting. A solid example of Van Gogh’s portrayal of fruit through impressionistic painting is his “Still Life with Lemons on a Plate” (1887):
It can be said that Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most revered and recognized painters who ever lived. The pain and turbulence of his life mixed with his vivid perspective of ambience and environment are realized in some of his most iconic works, such as “The Starry Night,” “Café Terrace at Night,” “Wheatfield with Crows,” and his self-portraits. He more frequently painted landscapes, rooms, flowers, and portraits, but he also had a phase in which he painted a lot of fruit.
This phase took place in between the years 1885 and 1888, and consisted of many colorful, Impressionistic still-life paintings of fruit. This marked a stark difference between the darker, Romantic-style paintings he made in the mid-1880s, and signaled the transition into the vibrant style that he’s most known for today. At this time, Van Gogh had started living in Paris with his brother Theo, who helped to sell his art to wealthy investors. He had also started showing symptoms of an unknown mental disorder, including hallucinations, nightmares, anxiety, and severe aggression. (Modern psychologists suggest that he was probably afflicted with more than one disorder.)
However, art historians claim it was for this exact reason that Van Gogh started to paint fruit. The challenges of capturing the complex shapes (mainly spheres) and their relationships with light through lines and color calmed his mind and eased his manic moods. It was through his research and artistic experimentation of this period that he came to discover the new wave of French Impressionism happening on the art scene of Paris.
From then until his tragic death, he was an impressionistic painter. This means that he focused on the general essence of the image instead of providing a realism through a prioritization of small details. He does this by a) utilizing short, thick strokes of paint, b) creating a richer, more vivid image by rarely mixing or blending colors, and c) playing with the illusion of light in the painting. A solid example of Van Gogh’s portrayal of fruit through impressionistic painting is his “Still Life with Lemons on a Plate” (1887):
After close viewing, the impressionism is clear- the viewer can clearly see Van Gogh’s individual strokes and how he plays with light by simply adding white strokes on the lemons, and adding the yellow and green strokes to the white plate to imply reflection. But if at first glance it seems simple and underwhelming, a second look allows the realization that you, as a viewer, are being allowed to interpret something completely ordinary for the first time. The lack of detail allows you to fill in the blanks, so to speak, on an item that is normally tangible and familiar. To open up a subject that seems simple to a whole world of imaginative possibilities is what Van Gogh did best, and if “The Starry Night” was the most extreme and visually overwhelming of his impressions, then his still life of fruit like “Still Life with Lemons on a Plate” were his most comfortable and simplistic.
Starting with the transition from darker paintings of various fruits to lighter pictures of more fruit, Van Gogh allows himself to expand his creative reach by getting brighter and moving to more vivid, colorful portrayals of fruit. He graduates to more physically complex subjects like flowers and wheat fields, and then his career culminates in the masterpieces we all know and love today. It all started with his desire to challenge himself to make even the most mundane objects a marvel to look at.
Starting with the transition from darker paintings of various fruits to lighter pictures of more fruit, Van Gogh allows himself to expand his creative reach by getting brighter and moving to more vivid, colorful portrayals of fruit. He graduates to more physically complex subjects like flowers and wheat fields, and then his career culminates in the masterpieces we all know and love today. It all started with his desire to challenge himself to make even the most mundane objects a marvel to look at.