Vincent Van Gogh's Saint-Rémy

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Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait titled ‘Saint-Rémy ' (1853-1890) along with Edvard Munch’s ‘THE SCREAM’ 1893–1893 have created a historic influence on artwork in the present day. Based upon Alice Neel’s quote, “A good portrait… has something more than just accurate features. It has some other thing!” these artworks will be examined in regards to their description, analysis, interpretation and result in a concluding judgment. Both being famous pieces and vary in significance, these portraits will undergo further examination throughout this critical analysis using this quote and determining whether they really have “some other thing.”
Within Vincent Van Gogh’s infamous Oil painting (65 cm x 54 cm) the main focus is of Vincent himself. The portrait contains Vincent surrounded by the dominant colours of pale turquoise and a shade of absinth green. The attention is drawn to his face and eyes glaring while he seems to be wearing a suit. A series of delicate painting techniques have been used in order to create realism throughout the face. The use of light brush strokes in a spiral motion were used for an extricate background. Although with less visuals, this allows the topic to be more expressed and the central point of this piece to be viewed.
In a direct visual Van Gogh has used …show more content…

Van Gogh’s artwork was made to be a reflection of his emotional state and was created just after he left the St. Remy asylum in 1889.The pale turquoise and green are essentially viewed as a cool, calm colour yet contrasted to his emotional state of feeling ‘blue’ and sad. The eyes are tightly drawn in the centre and builds energy. The eyes were painted to look distressed with a transfixed effect. This was used to allow the viewers see through into his mind and his struggles and the fight he had with the demons of his