Vincent van Gogh

Photo Of Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853 in Zundert Netherlands. When he was 16, he got a job with a company that was selling paintings. He wasn't very good as a businessman but he loved art. He also worked as a teacher and a preacher, but his heart was set for art. At the age of 27, he decided to become an artist. He learned by copying other artists' work.

Vincent wasn't very close to his father, but had a great bond with his younger brother Theo, who was an art dealer, and always supported Vincent's passion for art and encouraged him to keep painting. He was always there for Vincent. In 1886 Vincent moved to Paris, France but because of his sharp tongue and bad temper, other artists were not too fond of him. He eventually settled down and made some friends (Zaczek 7).

He truly wanted to found a colony of artists and asked Paul Gauguin to join him. Later, they stopped getting along and Vincent threatened him with a razor and cut part of his own ear off. This is when his mental illness started. He spent a couple of weeks in the hospital recovering. Image 1 is a self-portrait of Vincent with bandages on after he cut his ear off:

Image 1. Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear

Vincent painted over 40 portraits of himself. In the above Image 1, he is wearing a hat and a coat indoors which shows, he was still not doing too well healthwise. This portrait was painted in one of the worse times of his life. The Japanese painting behind him was a reminder of his dream to start an artist colony along with Paul Gauguin (Zaczek 8).

Vincent van Gogh's style had several different looks. First was called IMPASTO and second one was called SWIRLY LINES.

Image 2. Van Gogh's painting styles

Vincent's work was influenced by Impressionist artists, and he prefer painting from real life rather than his imagination (Zaczek 11).

Vincent painted lots of pictures with Sunflowers. He rented a house in Arles, and when he expected the arrival of his friend, painter Paul Gauguin, he planned on decorating his bedroom with many paintings of sunflowers (Zaczek 14). Sunflowers are used by artists as symbols of happiness and friendship. Sunflowers are  my favorite flowers too!

Image 3. Sunflowers

Another great piece of Vincent van Gogh is the Artist's Bedroom in Arles. As mentioned before, he loved painting images from life, not imagination.

Image 4. The Artist's Bedroom in Arles

The artist used very bright colors and unlike others, he uses solid outlines for most objects. The walls were in a strange angle and if you look closer, you can see the thickly applied paint, which was his style. I picked this images because I thought it is very neat to see the artist actual bedroom.

Last image I selected is the Starry Night. I have seen this painting before and it is a very famous piece. Vincent painted this picture in the hospital in 1889, when he was very sick and was having crazy, dark thoughts. He used dashes and long wavy lines to give impression of the glow of the moonlight (Zaczek 23).

Image 5. Starry Night

Vincent was very sick with mental illness and spent 12 months in the hospital. He shot himself on July 27, 1890 and died 2 days later in the age of 37, on July 29th, 1890 with his brother by his side.

Even though he was an artist for 10 years only, he painted nearly 900 paintings!

I love his style. I like the texture in his paintings, and like the color palettes he used for his paintings. Sometimes he used a few colors only and made different shades of that color and other times he used bigger variety. I am really happy I got to research this artist. I have known his name, but studying his life story and his painting styles was just a great experience!

References:

Zaczek, Iain. Great Artists - Vincent van Gogh. Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2015.

Image 1. Self-portrait with a bandaged ear (Zaczek 25). 

Image 2. Van Gogh's painting style (Zaczek 11).

Image 3. Sunflowers (Zaczek 15).

Image 4. The Artist's Bedroom in Arles (Zaczek 18-19).

Image 5. Starry Night (Zaczek 22-23).

Mary Cassatt

Photo of Mary Cassatt (Wood 4)

Mary Cassatt was born on May 22nd, 1844in Pennsylvania. She had six siblings, but two died in their early years. Her family was wealthy and her parents considered traveling as an important part of their children's education. They traveled many European countries and cities. Mary could speak fluent German and French (Wood 4).

At the age of sixteen, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, but left the institution  after four years as she felt the slow pace of teaching was not productive and also, female were not allowed to draw life models (Wood 5). 

Image 1. Reading Le Figaro (1878) A portrait of Mary Cassatt's Mother.

In 1866 she moved to Paris to continue studying art. She had a very strong bond with her mom, that came along with her as a chaperone. Since women were not allowed to attend famous Paris Art school, she studied privately with some of the teachers, Jean-Leon Gerome and Thomas Couture. She also learned a lot from copying paintings from the Louvre Museum (Wood 6).

In 1808, her painting "A Mandoline Player" was exhibited in one of the famous Paris salons. She was one of the first American Artists to be displayed there. 

 Image 2. A Mandoline Player (1868)

She Returned back to the United States in 1870 after a war started between Prussia and France. Her father refused to encourage and fund her artistic education so she attempted to sell her paintings. Unfortunately, no one was buying them. In 1871 she had an exhibition of her art in Chicago, but lost all of her pieces in the Great Chicago Fire (Wood 8). 

Cassatt received an offer from archbishop of Pittsburgh to copy two famous religious paintings from Parma, Italy (Wood 9). This opened a new opportunity to make money and return to Europe. 

She was known especially for painting mothers with children and their special bond. She specifically handpicked her models without being related. This way she got exactly what she wanted to paint. She painted children the way they were naturally, without making them to look overly cute. She loved painting their clumsy movements and odd expressions.

Image 3. Child in a Straw Hat (1886)

Mary Cassatt died in Paris on June 14th, 1926 in the age of 82. She influenced people's opinion about art and women artists. 

Image 4. The Child's Bath (1886)

I really enjoyed studying Mary Cassatt. Her subject style is very much like mine. I love photographing children, their bond among each other and their moms. I too prefer capturing children with their natural expressions. Her paintings are very expressive, colorful and beautiful. I truly lover her style and her subjects.

References:

Wood, Alix. Artists Through the Ages - Mary Cassatt. Windmill Books, 2016.

Image 1: Reading Le Figaro - A portrait of Mary Cassatt's Mother (1878) (Wood 11).

Image 2: A Mandoline Player (1886) Wood 7).

Image 3: Child in a Straw Hat (1886) (Wood 21).
Image 4: The Child's Bath (1898) (Wood19).