Art Analysis and Diagramming

Vincent van Gogh, “Van Gogh’s Room at Arles” (1889). Oil on Canvas

          I have always admired Van Gogh's work.  I have a big book at home that I bought when I was younger with all his paintings in it.  This particular picture is framed and hanging in my room.  After researching about this particular piece of art, I discovered that this was completed not too long after Van Gogh finished his Night Café.  He said: "I have tried to express with red and green the terrible passions of human nature."  He used these colors, and broad, vigorous, and swirling brush-strokes. I enjoy looking at this picture because of the vivid colors, which is an advantage of using oil paints. 

"This bedroom in the yellow house at Arles was very important to van Gogh, who decorated the room as part of his plan to get ready for other artists and his brother Theo to visit or live there. His frequent letters to Theo about the first version of this painting included descriptions and often sketches of the room's furnishings. Van Gogh said that "everything from the chairs to the pictures have character... the beds... give an appearance of solidity, durability and quiet..."
http://www.artic.edu/artexplorer/search.php?tab=2&resource=370

          After reading this excerpt and taking a second look at the painting, I began to analyze its elements.  I noticed the boldness of all the furniture, and it looks like he gave them an outline, which emphasizes their solidity.  I think the furniture also looks very playful, as they seems crooked and firmly sitting on the ground or hanging on the walls.  Everything is also very crowded looking; i think all these inconsistencies are relevant to the mental state that Van Gogh was in, as he was in a depression for a big part of his life.  This room is not portrayed as a dirty one, but certain pieces of furniture and wall hangings that are not perfectly straight can give us an uneasy feeling when looking at it.  The line weight of this painting is very heavy, and most of the lines are in the vertical direction.  This gives a dynamic feeling. Vertical lines could have been used because he was anxious for his brother to come visit and stay with him in this room, or the anxiety that he suffered from. 

           The colors of this room are warm and bright.  The chairs, side table and bed frame are an orange-brown color.  The bed also has a brick red quilt/comforter on top, and the light coming in through the window seems to be warm and bright.  Even though the walls and doors are a light blue, they almost go unnoticed in comparison to the big pieces of furniture and the large floor surface.  In relevance to light, there is no shadow used.  We assume that the light is coming from the window in the back, but it doesn't seem to be shining on the chair or table in front of it.  There is no shadow cast on the floor from any of the pieces of furniture.  There is a sense of depth in this painting.  The way the furniture is placed makes us feel like we are standing in the room, as if we are the guests that Van Gogh has been awaiting.  Everything seems to be pushed towards the back of the room.  There is also two pillows and two chairs, as if he was ready to share with whoever was coming to stay with him.  I like the way everything is spaced in this painting.  If everything was more towards the front of the room,  i would feel more uneasy looking at it because I think i would feel overwhelmed or crowded.  I think since this painting is so playful with its colors and furniture arrangement, someone could look at this for hours.  You can place yourself on the bed and imagine with the other side of the room would look like, or you can imagine yourself sitting in one of the chairs.  The use of color seems like a major element in the composition of this painting.  It conveys a feeling of happiness and excitement, but at the same time anxiousness and confusion.

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          After analyzing this piece of art, we then assigned to create concept models based on the elements of the painting.  I decided to look further into the elements of line, shape, and scale.  In hopes of bringing forth the idea of uncertainty and anxiousness in my models,  I used imperfect shapes and vertical lines. 

 

Scale

Line

Shape

CoNcEpTs...

#1

#2

 

          In my first concept model, I used foam board and bristol paper.  I cut out shapes that looked pretty normal and stable, but then I cut out the same shape just bigger out of bristol and placed it around the first solid shape.  This made it look like the shape was somewhat unbalanced or misshapen. I was trying to go along with the idea that the furniture in Van Gogh's painting isn't really sitting on the floor. I chose to use different sizes for each shape to represent the varying sizes of all the pieces of furniture in the room. 

        

          In my next model I decided to emphasize the the elements of line and size.  I used bristol paper and cut the lines into about 1/4" and on a diagonal.  I glued them onto a shape that represented the shape of the room in the painting.  I glued them with spaces in between to convey negative space.  The way the paper fell into and crossed each other was a good effect in that it showed the imperfectness of the room in Van Gogh's painting. 

         

    

          I decided that I liked this model the best, so I proceeded to make another one, this one larger. I cut the black foam core and glued them on in a descending order.  I used black foam board and made straight lines about 1/4" thick and hot glued them onto a flat black plane.  The shape of the plane is representative of the perspective of the room when looking at it from the outside. I then added white bristol in between each piece.  This gave the effect that there was some order and some stability, kind of like the feeling you get when you look at this painting.