A very famous piece by Vincent van Gogh relates well with the still life topic that we are now discussing in class. This painting is titled Sunflowers (Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers) 1888. Van Gogh's painting is a very different example of still life, in that it as not as realistic as what usually comes to mind when thinking about a still life piece of artwork. He doesn't use much shading or different tonalities under the vase, which is what causes it to be less successful as a realistic piece, but very successful as a piece that is fun to interpret. I especially like the fact that the flowers are all so different from one another, even though there are only really two species of flowers in the pot. Each one is distinctly different from the others and all are going in different directions. The fact that some are drooping down makes the eye of the audience go down as well and almost makes a sense of sadness in a way, even though sunflowers are known to be bright and cheery. Overall, this piece is not as commonplace in the "still life world", but is easily recognized as a great piece of van Gogh's.
You have some great insights here. I absolutely agree that there is a lot of variation in the shapes and states of the flowers, and that the painting is very flat. The brush strokes are also very thick and visceral, they create a sense of movement-- much like his other work (think of starry night). Flowers are actually a very popular subject for still life painting- dutch flower painting was very in vogue in the 1600's (see http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nstl/ho_71.5.htm for a good example. Good piece to use as an example!
ReplyDelete