Vincent Van Gogh Research Paper

Titre

The definition of art, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”. Although all types of art are valid forms of self expression, paintings are perhaps the one form that best captures and portrays the different feelings and emotions experienced by humankind. While paintings are predominantly appreciated for their aesthetics, their true significance lies in the emotional input of the artists who create them.

Art has constantly been portrayed throughout the world since the dawn of human life. Starting out with prehistoric cave paintings, art has been used to convey different thoughts, emotions, and events. For many

One of the world’s leading and most famously known artists, van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853, and rose to high levels of fame after the time of his death at the age of thirty-seven. He is well known for his post-impressionist styled paintings that were completed in wide varieties of color. While van Gogh was virtually unknown for the duration of his life, his works have reached masterpiece statuses and are recognized all over the world.

Vincent van Gogh is known to have had high emotions and very little self esteem. Throughout the beginning of his life, van Gogh made many unsuccessful attempts at working jobs that were not art related. It was in between 1860 and 1880, that van Gogh finally decided to become an artist. In his early works of art, van Gogh used “somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings” (vangoghgallery.com) to express himself. Only after travelling to Paris and meeting other famous painters of his time, did van Gogh brighten up his artwork by following impressionist

Dubbed “the most important figure of the 20th century in terms of art” (pablopicasso.org), Picasso has 1,885 paintings under his belt, and an estimated 50,000 pieces of artwork in total. Picasso also had the title of an art career lasting over seven dacades, as well as the credit of introducing the art style of cubism to the world. Along with creating the new cubism style, Picasso also introduced the world to a new way of looking at art.

It has been stated that, “Before the age of 50, the Spanish born artist had become the most well known name in modern art, with the most distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world, or had a mass following of fans and critics alike, as he did” (pablopicasso.org).

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in Málaga, Spain, to an unemployed mother and an art teacher/painter father. Picasso was said to have had a certain look, even in childhood, which seemed to distinguish a destiny of success. "When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope,'" he later recalled. "Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso."