Lives and Artwork of Da Vinci and Van Gogh - Essay Example

? Comparison of the Lives and Artwork of the Artists Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh By INTRODUCTION and THESIS It is clear that not one profession has dominated history. Multiple vocations have influenced their world, culture and society in such a way it continues to affect people of today. Artists are not different, inspiring audiences with their work that surpasses the ages. Two artists in particular are world renowned for their artwork: Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh. These men are noted for their inspiration, dramatic lives and remarkable paintings but in very different ways. SUBJECT SUMMARY Although, Van Gogh and Da Vinci were from separate eras who led distinct lives, they had at least two things in common: their love of art and the fact that they are legendary. The drama they ensued during their lifetimes distinctly shaped them into the men and artists they became, even how they fared in the view of the public. Their differences of experiences in life were evident in their painting styles through elements and principles of design. This division of talent helped shape them into separate, popular artists that each recognized separately of one another. BODY Leonardo da Vinci lived before Van Gogh in 1452, born in Vinci, Italy on April 15 (Leonardo, 2011). Out of everything he did, da Vinci was most noted for his paintings. However, he also heavily influenced people because he beheld one of the most amazing minds of the Italian Renaissance through his work as not just a painter, but as a sculptor, engineer, architect, and scientist (Leonardo, 2011). This is not really well-known about him, but da Vinci was an illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci and a village woman, Caterina (Leonardo, 2011). Not much is remembered of his mother. His father, on the other-hand, was a noticeable notary who apprenticed da Vinci to Andrea del Verrocchio in 1435 to 1488 (Leonardo, 2011). Opposite of rebellion, da Vinci conformed to tradition. He studied Verrocchio, especially his obsessive methods of perfection in regard to the human figure (Leonardo, 2011). In fact, one of da Vinci’s first paintings came from his assistant work in Verrocchio’s shop when he painted Baptism of Christ (Leonardo, 2011). Despite learning from another artist, da Vinci remained original in his work, not a copier or lesser talented person of his predecessor. Da Vinci set up his own shop after several years in 1478, and by 1481 he was asked to create an altarpiece in a major church entitled Adoration of the Magi (Leonardo, 2011). His experimentation during the Milanese period where he dabbled in different oils for his paintings did not bode well for future view. Many paintings at that time were lost. Specifically, his infamous artwork The Last Supper had been reduced to mere spots and later reconstructed to what it is today (Leonardo, 2011). Later in life during 1500s, da Vinci focused his talents on human vitality (Leonardo, 2011). His painting Mona Lisa, arguably his most famous, is a product of da Vinci’s human portrayal. By 1506, da Vinci began to focus on science and the living organism (Leonardo, 2011). A few scientific analyses da Vinci conducted were: firearms, growth of plants, flight of birds, and geology (Leonardo, 2011). Before da Vinci died, the French king, Francis I, gave him a country estate in Cloux, France, which is where da Vinci passed away on May 2, 1519 at 67. Vincent Van Gogh entered the world on March 30, 1853 in Groot-Zundert in Holland from a Protestant minister, Theodorus, and his mother, Cornelia (Vincent, 2011). He received his name after he was born a year after the death of his younger brother, a stillborn (Vincent, 2011). Like da Vinci, little is understood or known of Van Gogh’s childhood, but there is speculation that Van Gogh’s mother encouraged him to draw and paint (Vincent, 2011). Before his artistry, Van Gogh was hired on at his Uncle’s company. The firm was called Goupil and Company, a company with art dealers, that Van Gogh worked for starting at age 16 and remained at for 6 years (Vincent, 2011). It was during this time that Van Gogh was first rejected by a woman, and soon thereafter was fired for his poor attitude. He went on to preach for a little while then clerked in a bookshop in 1877 (Vincent, 2011). Van Gogh thought he had a religious calling and joined the religious seminary in Belgium for 3 months then moved on to preach at a mine (Vincent, 2011). A dark period was issued at that time for Van Gogh as his peculiar behavior continued to get him rejected, despite his intentions, and thus lost another job in 1879 (Vincent, 2011). A more important calling arose the following year when Van Gogh decided to devote himself to art. Similarly to da Vinci, Van Gogh studied the basic principles of perspective and human anatomy in the art school he attended in Brussels (Vincent, 2011). The initial subjects that graced his artwork were figures of the lower class like peasants and miners. His paintings were dreary as represented by shades of dark brown and green. In 1885, Van Gogh painted Potato Eaters, his first renowned piece of art. Theo, Van Gogh’s younger brother, had a huge impact on Van Gogh’s life as he often supported his brother financially through his career as an artist, thus their letters to one another were some of the most substantial letters ever to be recovered in history (Vincent, 2011). Van Gogh was influenced by the Impressionist period, and altered his dark themes to brighter colors (Vincent, 2011). Peasants were lost, but the cafe scenes along with scenes of cityscapes were utilized more and more like with Montmartre he painted in 1886 (Vincent, 2011). Van Gogh found peace in the countryside of Arles and it was there he produced more than two hundred paintings. Even though this period of peace was followed by painful years of more rejection that resulted in Van Gogh cutting off his ear and suffering from seizures, he continued to paint (Vincent, 2011). In fact, he painted approximately 150 paintings, most of which were self-portraits, during his time spent in an asylum in which he admitted himself into voluntarily shortly after his self-mutilation. Van Gogh’s elements and principles of design styles changed a little at that time; the lines less distinct, the colors mixing. His painting Starry Night is a direct product of his latest style (Vincent, 2011). Cornfield of the Crows was the last painting Van Gogh did, which illustrated his new upside down view (Vincent, 2011). The quarreling in his very last days resulted in suicide where Van Gogh shot himself in a vacant field on July 29, 1890. He was just 37 years old (Mckenna, 2011). The first remarkable difference to note between Van Gogh and da Vinci is that their lives were experienced in a vast way that established a gap. For instance, Van Gogh’s was dark and brooding, full of instability both mentally and physically. His constant rejection by his peers led him down a twisted path, especially through his ups and downs of hope and despair (Mckenna, 2011). Whereas, da Vinci was highly accepted and admired even by royalty. Da Vinci acknowledged the fact that he was an artist among other professions. Da Vinci knew who he was from day one, but Van Gogh stumbled through his life for years without establishing a solid identity. He let his environment shape who he became, which inevitably caused his downfall. Despite this vast difference, the downfall of Van Gogh vs. the stable life of da Vinci did not make one artist greatly more popular or infamous over the other. This is evident when comparing their paintings the Mona Lisa and Starry Night because they are both universally recognized by everyone of today. These paintings were constructed in their later lives when they had matured and become well-known. Both pieces were direct reproductions of the distinct lives led by Van Gogh and da Vinci as seen through elements of principles and design. Mona Lisa is a painting to display the realism of human anatomy and portrayal in art. This particular artwork is a naturalistic painting, which means it is universally recognized by a population as a familiar object or person. In this case, the figure is a woman who is sitting poised-like in the forefront of a wilderness scene. She was a real person that existed in da Vinci’s time. The color is a mixture of black, shades of grey and brown, and green. The size and shape of the woman is considerably larger than the background, which gives the illusion almost that she is 3-D, or at the very least, in front of the remainder of the painting and it helps to establish balance. Lines are distinct of one another in this painting as they separate the shapes from one another, allowing the viewer to distinguish the woman, her clothes, hands, hair, face, and environment from one another. One of the most distinguishing features of the Mona Lisa is seen through the contrast, dominance and unity, all principles of design (Lovett, 1999). The contrast of the pale skin vs. the ebony hair and clothing shows that the figure was a regular woman of no particular high class or station. Specifically, she was the third wife of a Florentine citizen (Leonardo, 2011). The dominance of her over top of the background scene gives the audience the knowledge that she is the focal point of da Vinci’s eye. Unity makes sense of the balance and dominance being issued through the continuation of color and action from the bottom half of the painting to the upper half, as the eye does not have to bounce around in discord. Perhaps the most arguably details of the painting is her smile, or lack thereof. Is her smile appearing or disappearing (Leonardo, 2011)? Right away, Van Gogh’s Starry Night differs from the Mona Lisa because it is an abstract painting. In other words, it is not universally recognized as a specific place or an accurate portrayal of a town at night. When Van Gogh painted it, he was suffering from multiple seizures and mental illness that often rendered him viably insane (Blumer, 2002). Van Gogh’s anatomy is a direct link to the suffering he had endured during his years of depression (Bay, 2000). Starry Night is an accurate result of Van Gogh’s mental decline as seen in a topsy-turvy world. Unlike with da Vinci’s painting, the lines in Van Gogh’s melt into one another. One line acts as a border for multiple shapes rather than keeping them distinct of each other. The colors of blue, black, violet, yellow, and white represent different shapes in the painting like clouds, stars, moon, homes, and hills. The largest, most dominant shape is an ebony tower that is then balanced by the smaller figures of the homes and church in the background. The heavy utilization of gradation and oblique, horizontal and vertical direction emphasizes action and flow (Lovett, 1999). Unity is displayed through the almost flawless integration of the sky meeting the earth. The heavy mixture of erratic color and swirls acts as a representation of Van Gogh’s mental state at the time he painted Starry Night. CONCLUSION Although, the two artists Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh led extremely different lives from one another, there is no doubt that their distinct experiences had a direct impact on the way they learned and executed their artwork. Without the severe modes of depression and violence in Van Gogh’s life, would he have become half as famous as he is today? Or, if da Vinci hadn’t been exposed to the teachings of his predecessor, especially in regards to human realism, would Mona Lisa ever been painted? The elements that separate them from each other are what make them most notable and distinguished in the eyes of fans everywhere. References Bay, NSY. (2010) Da Vinci’s Anatomy. In Journal of Morphological Science. Accessed on 8 May 2011 from, http://jms.org.br/PDF/v27n1a04.pdf Blumer, D., M.D. (2002). The Illness of Vincent van Gogh. In The American Journal of Psychiatry. Accessed on 8 May 2011 from, http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/159/4/519 Mckenna, T. (2011 May). Vincent van Gogh Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory. In Informaworld. Accessed on 8 May 2011 from, http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a936253290 “Leonardo da Vinci”. (2011). Leonardo da Vinci Biography: Life, Family, Childhood, Parents, History, wife, Young, Son, Info. In Encyclopedia of World Biography. Accessed 8 May 2011 from, http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ki-Lo/Leonardo-da-Vinci.html Lovett, J. (1999). The Elements of Design and Prinicple. In JohnLovett.com. Accessed on 8 May 2011 from, http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm “Vincent van Gogh”. (2011). Vincent van Gogh Biography: Life, Childhood, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Son, Info. In Encyclopedia for World Biography. Accessed on 8 May 2011 from, http://www.notablebiographies.com/Tu-We/van-Gogh-Vincent.html Read More