Main source1 -
Main source2 -
1 - (art) Portraiture in general
2 - Relevant Biographical information
Born 30th March 1853
vocation chosen to be an artist 1880
Father died 1885
Paris years 1886 - 1888 (first self portraits)
Guagin stays oct 1888 - dec 1888
Shot 27th July 1890
Death 29th July 1890
3 - Why this is relevant to my dissertation
p7 difficult to disentangle the legend from the life and put two and two together with his work, suggesting that the two things correlate. This doesn't make it true. Recent writers take the opposite approach, not to read the paintings as personal crises and afflictions, prefer not to see his later paintings as expressing his alienation and threatened sanity
"There is certainly an affinity between a person and his work, but it is not easy to define what that affinity is, and on that question many judge quite wrongly'. which makes sense, but how much this affects the truthfulness of an outcome is to be debated.
Of course can depict things in his art but more specifically in his self portraits may reveal how he saw himself.
I have chosen to begin this dissertation with the discussion of a famous painter because I think it helps illustrate better what needs to be sorted out in interpretation. Painting seems to be a slower process but shares many parallels with photography in output of representation. What happens when we paint? Is the painter really the one doing the painting?
4 - Van Gogh's conscious intent
chose to start painting himself, had no models and it himself was free. It was a way to practice his skills perhaps and refine them.
Because of the expensive paints it makes it more realistic he would paint and not on a wim, or is this a criticism?
Of his self-portraits it would be prudent to first suggest of course they are not of a literal representation of the man, and I would surmise they are what he painted whilst looking in a mirror of himself. What we are seeing is the mirrored version of Van Gogh, much how we mistakenly perceive ourselves in everyday when we look at a mirror.
4a - Paris years
living with theo, fewer letters, clearly very happy p91
It seems from Van Goghs earlier troubles, he found some recompense in Paris when he moved in with his brother Theo. Several things contributed to this: being in a city in which art is taken seriously, inspiration from the city itself, influence from the impressionists and having company to subside his loneliness. Proof of this is harder to corroborate because his main correspondent, Theo was the person he was living with and so physical evidence exists only in surviving letters to other people, the occasional letter to Theo when Vincent went on trips and of course his paintings themselves. In a letter to Horace Livens he wrote 'And my dear fellow, Paris is Paris... ... ...the French air clears up the brain and does good - a world of good.' which shows his attitude towards the place. Adding to this the 230 paintings he completed in 2 years is extraordinary. This is where one of his greatest achievements begins, his self-portraits. He painted 37 between 1886 and his death in 1890.
People have often speculated why he suddenly decided to practice the self-portrait genre and generally suggest that it is due to poverty. Usually to higher a model to paint would be expensive and to paint oneself in the mirror is free. This seems to suggest to me that Vincent had no choice but to paint himself. However, it is fair to say that Vincent had lived a life of general poverty in his painting years so was used to not being able to afford models but yet not a single self-portrait was painted. It is suggested that this was to do with his new direction in life and decision to move south (Nathienal harris p106) and so would be a choice as opposed to having nothing else to resort to painting.
Nathaniel continues to suggest that his self-portraits 'chronicle the development of his technique and artistic preoccupations, but they are also psychological documents reflecting changes in his state of mind and health' (p106), while I agree that artistic must reflect our influences because what we know is a product of other things. However, perhaps painting reflecting his mind and health is contestable. Is Nathaniel suggesting that Van Gogh intentionally portrayed himself and how he was feeling or is it the case that his mental state is revealed through his artistic style unwittingly known to the artist?
4b - Guagin's stay
It's interesting to note that during Guagins stay, tensions did run high at times, and after being painted by Guagin Vincent clearly hadn't taken it in the best way leading to an altercation and sealing his departure from Arles. This led Van Gogh to mutilate himself by hacking off part of his lower ear and gave it to a prostitute as a gift. This left him hospitalised and took two weeks to recover from. What is of interest here is the two self-portraits which show him with his bandaged ear, clearly a conscious choice to portray a truthful event or occurrence.
4c - End of his life
His last self-portraits were painted during his stay at St Remy's and were the last he'd ever paint, some 10months before his suicide. In the first of these three, Nathaniel suggests it is an almost glamourous image of the painter (p215) and could have been painted to impress his doctor. The final portrait has his typical swirling mass as a background which could be his psychological condition of madness. Yet he appears determined, hard headed and aggressive (p215) Now it is interesting to note these show the artist from the opposite side than his mutilated ear, proving to be a conscious choice and something he did not want to portray anymore.
Perhaps these paintings show the artist what he hoped he was feeling, and are more about that than truthful representation. He was at odds with the world but remained determined with his art to console him. I wonder now if what we hope and imagine ourselves to be, are as real as what we really are. These hopes and dreams are important, they make up a part of who we are.
5 - Van Gogh's possible deception
contrast with a portrait of him (which would be more typical style portrait?) by Horace Livens the first known portrait of Van Gogh
There are many things in his childhood that may or may not
have affected Van Gogh, but these are mere speculation, such as his
brother stillborn exactly one year before he was born, usurper. p8
(more leading towards the unconscious here I think)
Towards the end of his stay in Paris, during the winter of 1887-8 his self-portraits make him look 'ravaged and thin-faced' (p141) which would be indicative of a troubled man (p140) This seems he was more interested in his work to portray himself truthfully, I consider it not to be beneficial to paint oneself in an unflattering light unless it would have some benefit to it? However, it is his final self-portrait from this winter period that is of interest to me. #28 shows Vincent brimming with a dogged determination, he is portrayed as the painter at work. 'he looks so different that it must surely be interpreted as a conscious change of self-image' is this how the painter really feels or is he by painting this trying to create a new Van Gogh? Can this self-portrait singled out from the rest be taken to be an accurate representation of the man? Perhaps it was accurate of the time it took him to paint it. Perhaps the accuracy lies only within his mind - it is an accurate representation of who he wanted to be, how he wanted to be seen. Perhaps this is very important in defining who we really are. However, it does suggest that he consciously chose to manipulate the painting in a certain way as opposed to it being merely coincidental and general interpretation is wrong.
Van Gogh claimed he paints so that people can feel his art not just view it, and so with his style of painting used his feeling to paint it. I would question how it would be possible to maintain this feeling and pour it into ones work because feelings tend to sometimes be temporary things, such as anger which change over time. However, it is suggested that he painted at such great speed that this no longer becomes an issue and more conveys a more truthful connection with his work because he wouldn't have had time to change certain details and manipulate things to how he wanted. Things were more spontaneous. 'he made no use of conventional preliminaries, such as preparatory sketches and oil studies, wielding his loaded brush to 'draw' directly on to the canvas even squeezing paint straight on to it from the tube' ' working at speed, Van Gogh could preserve the freshness of his sensations' (p147). He is painting his feelings, letting his emotions flow to the canvas. Now, the question becomes evident here, are these feelings then accurate of the person? Was Van Gogh aware of these and intentionally painted the way he did or was it a kind of lucid painting style. So it would appear to be suggesting that his mind and emotions (something he cannot control) have played an important role in how the paintings have turned out, and so he perhaps hasn't consciously manipulated them. This is good for his paintings can be seen as truthful representations, even if they are representing his mind. Whether or not these truthful representations are accurate is another matter entirely. The self-portrait reveals the unconscious has more of an affect on what the out come is than our conscious mind can suggest.
Simon Johnson
www.thephilosophicalphotographer.co.uk
Chapter 2 - Van Gogh v3
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