Landscape at Saint-Rmy by Van Gogh - Essay Example

Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant) Description In this paper, I will be looking at a picture analysis of the picture, “landscape at Saint-Remy (enclosed field with peasant)”. The picture was a painting by an artist called Gogh Vincent Van who was of Dutch origin. According to the details available on the painting, it was created in 1889 on an oil and canvas material. The painting measures 29 inches by 36 ¼ inches in sight. It is part of a European collection and is currently on view in Sidney and Kathy Taurel gallery. Accession number of the painting is 44.74. In the picture, there is a mountain in the rear end which has a rocky terrain. A house sits at the foot of the mountain with shrubs surrounding its vicinity. A furrow runs across the centre of the picture and two men are visible in the furrow. There is a simple shrub that materializes from the furrow, while tufts of grass can be seen around the shrub. The entire area of the picture is covered with a rugged terrain with a rough and rocky ground. Formal Analysis There are different features which are visible from the painting. Form the furthest side of the picture, a house has been tucked away in the left corner. This house has been surrounded by the a few low shrubs. Further down on the right side of the painting are two houses separated by rocks. While one of the houses is only visible from its roof, the other can be seen from its walls, erected from among the shrubs that are a characteristic of the area. However, there are distinct features that show the differences in the landscape as presented by the artist’s detailed description in the painting. While half of it lies in the highlands, the other half is in the lowlands. The dominating features in the highlands are stony and rocky surfaces. There are also bushy shrubs that are a characteristic of the highlands. The description of the mountainous region is the rocky terrain and the mountain that towers high above the trees and the shrubs. The presence of a large water body indicates that this region is a catchment area for water. The presence of homesteads in the area is indicative of a good weather for people’s dwelling. The other area of the painting is a dry lend that is full of traces of grass represented by grouped black markings. Contrary to the highlands, the lowlands do not have the usual shrubs. Instead, there is only a single plant that grows from the banks of the furrow. As a means to show how this region is dry, the furrow has dried up and only dry land surrounds the place. Instead of the huge rocks that represent the highlands, the lowlands are bare fields. The picture has different shades of colour, which have been consistently applied in different areas to give a diverse view and make it more detailed. There is a constant repetition of grey colour in the painting making it look quite detailed and with increased features. Colour brown has also been widely repeated in the painting, with the artist opting to use it to reveal a number of features such as rocks, banks of the furrow and the mountain. These are the characterizing features of the landscape, which the audience can easily and simply tell that it is a rocky terrain. The blue colour in the horizon of the picture is a reflection of a large water body with traces of white showing that it is a water source. Grey colour has dominated most of the areas covered by the painting. Representing the colour of rocks and stones, this indicates that the place is largely a rocky place. However, the brown colour has been used to indicate that there are traces of soil in the landscape, features and Critical Interpretation The painting has hurried lines that make it a vibrant and moving field, and seemingly pulsates with life despite the fact that only one human being is shown in the picture. The painting topologically offers the four views of the wheat fields in the foot of the Mountain of Alpilles. Rich with wheat and full of human activity, the wheat fields of Alpilles are always busy and moving with people. With his ability to carefully paint the details of his imagination in canvas, Van Gogh successfully makes the eye of the view travel through the painting. A viewer can actually travel across the painting by following the different streaks of lines that are dotted around the painting. The artists’ spirituality and his intense identification with the power of nature and the increased influence that nature had on his imagination contributed in a big way to transforming his landscapes into a powerful personalized expressions of how he saw nature. He drew this painting while in a voluntary commitment in an asylum in Saint-Remy which is located at fifteen miles in the northeast region of Arles in southern France. Due to g=hjis direct contact with nature, Van Gogh drew his inspiration from the things that he was around him and transformed them into great art works. In this painting, Van Gogh who was highly influenced by nature and drew most of his inspiration from the nature wanted to show the diversity of the Alpilles in a four dimensional way. Contrasting the fields and the mountainous region, the artist showed that different activities take place in the fields and in the region. The only human being in the picture is busy harvesting wheat in the fields. The high influence of spirituality prompted him to come up with the idea of the harvest time. Gogh believed that just the ripe wheat is harvested from the fields; human beings will too be harvested by the maker once they are ripe. The picture can thus be regarded as a symbolism of his beliefs and philosophy of life. Critical Judgement Van Gogh was interested in the message of peasantry when he was making this painting. The title of the painting is “Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant)” in which he wanted to communicate the various activities that happen in the fields. He drew this painting while in a mental hospital close to the fields, which he felt that people ought to have known about. he portrays the area in a four dimensional perspective where he looks at the fields themselves, the activities that happen on the fields, homesteads and the highlands that are full of tree and rocky grounds. In his time, the most important economic activity was farming, which he successfully communicates through the painting with the man working in the fields. To show the kind of lifestyles these people lived, he set a number of houses in the background. He was highly influenced by nature, and therefore a reason why in detail he drew this picture. The moving lines which characterized all his paintings were as a result of his mental condition. From the features and the details of this panting, the artist was successful in sending out his message to the audience. He does this through the use of a complex and yet interesting manner of panting. He stood out from the rest despite the fact that most of his work was not considered seriously in his time until he moved to Paris and discovered the use of colour in his drawings. Klein, Adam G. Vincent Van Gogh. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub. Co, 2007. Internet resource. Klein looks at the life of Vincent Van Gogh with a lot of depth and candidly gives the full description of the kind of life that he had and whom he used to associate with. Klein looks at the sources of his inspiration and the evolution of Gogh’s artistic capabilities from a young age to his old age. This book thus gives the life history of the artist and gives insights on the artist’s life history, his likes and dislikes as well as interests. Adams, P. (1996, 10). The letters of vincent van gogh. The Atlantic Monthly, 278, 121-122. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223118414?accountid=45049 Van Gogh is believed to have constantly communicated with his brother about his paintings in letters. This article help a learner to Read More