Analysis of Portrait of Peasant - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Portrait of Peasant also known as Patience Escalier is an influential portrait painting drawn by Vincent van Gogh who lived from 1853 to 1890. It is incredible due to use of brutal, arabesques, plumes, dots, and spikes. This drawing was made when Van Gogh lived in Provence situated south of France. This place was characterized by extreme sunlight where this kind of weather was the primary inspiration of his drawing. Van Gogh drew this artwork after moving to Arles with goals of establishing an artist colony. Furthermore, it engraves the portrait of an old Camargue peasant called Patience Escalier. Initially, he worked as a gardener in his entire life in La Crau until he moved to Stockman. The painting was made on a white wove paper and is the Escalier's second version. It was drawn when Van Gogh was gradually shifting from Impressionism to post-impressionism. Due to the exceptional features of Portrait of Peasant, it has broadly been acknowledged as one of the great achievements of Van Gogh's artwork.

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Formal Qualities of the Artwork

The Portrait of Peasant painting takes a rectangular shape with a size of 19 by 15 inches. Contour is also stressed particularly on the hat of Escalier to communicate different themes. Additionally, the form of this image is three-dimension which is enabled by the reflected light, local color, and cast shadows (Fieberg et al., 2017). This artwork combines different color with the most visible being yellow, brown, green, white, and blue. The texture of the painting is rough which has been enhanced due to use of painting tools which created layers of colors in various densities. Moreover, Van Gogh incorporated shadings and lines that brought the rough texture making the portrait appear lifelike. The value of this painting which is the tone of the color used as stipulated by Berry (2015), is light and dark. Additionally, this value develops the three dimension illusion. The space of the painting that is the section occupied by the portrait in relation to its surrounding has been made illusionary by shading, and the versatile painting methods have been combined superbly (Van Gogh & Ives, 2005).

Art Elements and Design Principles in Communication

Van Gogh uses various elements of art as well as principles of design to aid him in communicating themes of the portrait. For instance, he uses contour lines drawn on the Escalier's hat to communication the theme of its volume (Van Gogh & Ives, 2005). Additionally, he utilizes the density of Escalier's marks which are on his face to communicate the theme of the dark side of human beings. Furthermore, Escalier's head is a combination of reactions to the surface which has formed marks and contours. This communicates the topic of how the author trailed the field surfaces as he moved to Arles. Van Gogh also uses the highlighted lips and nose to maintain the western way of attaining tone. This communicates the theme of admiration of other artists' works such as Charles Keene (Van Gogh & Ives, 2005).

The Subject of the Artwork

Van Gogh had long searched for the most appropriate subject to suit his painting purpose. Initially, he had agreed to paint an old peasant. Peasant paintings had previously become marketable in Paris. He chose to paint a peasant candidate called Patience Escalier who is the main subject of his painting(Van Gogh & Ives, 2005). Previous, Escalier worked as a cowhand before he became a gardener who worked in farms when the painting was made (Berry, 2015). Escalier was simple with complementary yellows, orange, green, and blue painting visually showing the sensitive depiction of an elderly, authentic man.

How Objects Fit Together to Tell a Story

In the portrait of a Peasant, Van Gogh places the power of tactility of paint and contrasting colors to tell a story of the significant qualities of man and his surroundings. He describes his gardener subject in the luminous colors of Provence at the middle of the summer. The brilliant yellow Escalier's hat fits in this painting to introduce in the mind of the audience the blazing sun (Van Gogh & Ives, 2005). On the other hand, his green jackets tell the story of lush vegetation while the vivid blues which acts as the background of the painting tells about the mid-day sunshine. Furthermore, the hollows and ridges, as well as the burnt golden shade and Escaleir's wrinkled face, inform the audience of the scorched earth, suggesting the words of Van Gogh when he said the very furnace of harvesting era in the interior south.

The Motive of the Artwork

Van Gogh wished to reveal his emotions by utilizing color. This is because while in Arles he found that colors could be employed in creating emotions. He utilized the paint in a technique of impasto which required the application of thick paint. Moreover, during this era, the art movement took the form of impressionism with the prominent artists such as Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet (Berry, 2015). Van Gogh on the other hand, with motives of demonstrating emotions through his artwork, he moved to post-impressionism. Therefore, another motive of this artwork was to introduce post-impressionism approach in painting. Various artists later used it in Arles as well as other regions.

Construction of the Artwork and its Original Intentions

The portrait of a Peasant was painted on a wove paper. It took the form of a rectangle where the various paints such as blue, green and yellow were used. Van Gogh used this paints to present a portrait of a peasant gardener. It measured 19 by 15 inches in size (Berry, 2015). The original intentions of Van Gogh in painting this artwork was because he perceived himself as the painter of a peasant. He wanted to dignify the modest lifestyles of the peasants. Furthermore, he desired to link himself with the long history of peasant paintings which extended to the nineteenth century from the Old Masters (Van Gogh & Ives, 2005). Therefore, after painting this artwork, it brought him back to his initial welfares of rural laborers.

The artwork was used in August 1888 which was a period of highly productive harvest when Van Gogh had stayed in Arles for fifteen months. It was used by Van Gogh to assist him in turning away from impressionism to post-impressionism. He made this possible by combining some characteristic of both the impressionism and post-impressionism in the Portrait of Peasant which he had been studying.

Thirty-Second Look and Ten-Minute Look

When a viewer looks the portrait of a Peasant for thirty seconds, he will see a drawing of a man wearing a yellow hat, brown scarf, and a green jacket with blue color behind him. Additionally, the viewer may see a square portrait which is framed. While viewed for ten minutes, one will have enough time to conclude that the edges of this portrait are rectangular rather than square and the hat has some lines cutting across it known as contours. One will also notice the man is a peasant from his look and the kind of attire he is wearing, for instance, the green jacket which is fading losing its original green color (Fieberg et al., 2017). It also evident that the blue color behind him appears like the sky due to its pattern.

The thirty seconds observation of this portrait differs greatly with that of ten minutes. This is because the viewer only sees the basic things about the painting such as the colors used, shape, and what is drawn among others. Moreover, the set of observations in the ten minutes look includes in-depth observation of the hidden objects in a painting. For example, in the ten minutes look one may see the contour lines because there is adequate time to analyze the painting. Although the two observation on this painting has different outcomes, they are similar in that the viewer can recognize the color of paints used, and the gender of the individual painting.

Difference between Looking and Seeing

Looking at someone or something denotes to directing your eyes upon or recognizing its existence while seeing entails both looking at something or someone and comprehending what it or him by paying attention (Wells, 2015). The thirty seconds observation at the portrait may be termed more of a look since the viewer will only acknowledge the presence of essential components in the painting like the color. Therefore, for a viewer to observe all the aspect of the painting, he must have adequate time which entails seeing to think and understand what he sees. Visual understanding in this painting cannot be immediate unless the view has ever heard the story behind it. Thus, seeing is essential for in-depth concentration to see and understand various aspects associated with the drawing such as the status of the subject (Wells, 2015).

Patience skills transform talent into achievement. The portrait of the peasant was the second version of Escalera's thus it is evident that to master any art or improve a talent such as painting one requires to make a consistent effort for a long period which is possible through the patient. Additionally, Critical attention skills are essential in acquiring positive attitude. For those students who paid attention to the painting during an explanation at the museum about this artwork, would achieve positive attitude towards it. This is impossible if one just looked at the portrait without taking time to think about it. Patience and critical attention skills are thus significant since they facilitate individuals distinguish between subjective and objective conclusions regarding an item or someone. Ultimately, patience may help verify subjective conclusions since it encompasses studying the statics and published records. Critical attention, on the other hand, aid make subjective conclusions by paying concentration to opinions and facts.

References

Berry, C. (2015). Vincent Van Gogh: His Spiritual Vision in Life and Art. Orbis Books.

Fieberg, J. E., Knutas, P., Hostettler, K., & Smith, G. D. (2017). "Paintings Fade Like Flowers": Pigment Analysis and Digital Reconstruction of a Faded Pink Lake Pigment in Vincent van Gogh's Undergrowth with Two Figures. Applied spectroscopy, 71(5), 794-808.

Van Gogh, V., & Ives, C. F. (2005). Vincent van Gogh: the drawings. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Wells, L. (Ed.). (2015). Photography: a critical introduction. Routledge.