Portrait of Dr Gachet Essay Example for Free

portrayal of Dr Gachet EssayA. IntroductionWhen the name avant-garde van Gogh comes up, unmatchable fanny imagine sunflowers, stars at night, rice fields, and lonely portraits. His works resemble writing. (Berger, 2001, p.87) His manner rendered to writing. When one hears his name, one remembers a song, a play, a book.Van Goghs appeal is world-wide. Collectors, dealers, and museums place a high determine on a painting. Artists, art critics, and even an ordinary person who knows a thing or both ab erupt Western art can appreciate his works as well as his life story. He was a post impressionist painter. (vangoghg all(prenominal)ery.com)One of the controversial paintings of Van Gogh is the Portrait of Dr. Gachet. The paper (Paul Ferdinand Gachet) was the painters physician and friend. He made the portrait six weeks before he attached suicide. (businessweek.com, 1998)B. Description / AnalysisThe issuing in the painting occupied much of the space. It cuts a diagonal telephon e wire in the spunk of the canvass. The slant submits the sense modality of the subject. Dr. Gachet is in a reclining position as if exhausted and sad. The subjects outline from his hat, to his shoulders, to his hand, was drawn with soft curved lines. The features of the salute and the coat argon excessively of curves. The curves give the work an over-all softness which contributes to the humor of sadness as opposed to sharp lines which usually denote coldness. on that point were very few straight lines used. They can only be seen in the objects (two books) beside the subject.There ar also the famous low strokes using semi-curved lines used by Van Gogh to give texture. The strokes need circumstantial space between them. And, the background colors of these strokes are still very visible. These small strokes create a pattern-like detail ( it used the principle of repetition) to the visual objects that uses them such as subjects clothes and his background.The primary(preno minal) subject is oval. He is like a fruit reclining on a table. The dominant colors are blue and green. There are numerous shades using these colors. They are contrasting to the subjects skin tone which is mostly a combination of yellow and cream. The face and the arms are beautiful with soft details using light brown and green. The contrast of the dark and the light colors brings anxiety to the face, and thus the mood of the subject which as mentioned earlier looks exhausted and sad.The subject was placed in the middle ground. The sidle up are the other visual objects such as books, table and the flowers in a vase. The foreground gives an idea to the setting that the portrait was done during a casual encounter. The background is an outline of a beautify (in dark blue) and sky (in pale blue). The background colors are of the alike shade which create harmony.The Portrait of Dr.Gachet was painted in 1890. Its size is 67 x 56 cm. It used oil on canvas.(paletaworld.org) Van Gogh used this medium the most as tapern in his most famous paintings. There are debates on whether Van Goghs art is impressionist, expressionist or post-impressionist. Partly, due to the small clash strokes he used to give detail to visual objects, some say he belongs to the impressionist painters. The small strokes are signs of the artists swift motion during painting. Since the outline of the visual objects are simple, one gets the idea that the artist must have paid attention to the affect reality such as the mood or feeling of the subject at that time. This presents a way of seeing as opposed to hyperrealist graphicss which squeeze on the mastery of details. (Berger, 2001, p. 8)C. InterpretationThe over-all impact of the painting is sadness. It was an intimate portrait because the painter was drawing out feelings. This can be seen in the choice of colors, soft lines and -most obvious- the details of the subjects face. By the gentle alone Portrait of Dr. Gachet, one expects to see a serious man. Visual details show the same characteristic as the subject appears to be a serious man. Beside the subject were books. Reading suggests educational or professional background. The subject wore a dark coat and a defined moustache -which are the communal symbols of being proper.The usual portraits are arranged like a pictorial. The Portrait of Dr. Gachet deviates from this. It is not a march of attributes. The painting is affective. This means that it shows a relation between the subject and the painter. The subject was relaxed enough to recline and show his emotions. He looks exhausted or resigned from something, and he is conveying it. The table used as a foreground suggests the looker (the painter) might be on the other end. Facts concerning the subjects relation to Van Gogh came as no surprise. He was said to be unable to help Van Gogh in his depression and is suffering from it as well. (Bertman, 2006)The subjects relation to the painter is relevant. He was hi s doctor. And he was with him long time before the painters death. The sad and tired look on the doctors face symbolizes surrender. The death of Van Gogh came days later. In the Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Van Gogh was painting vulnerability. He was keen to the moment being lived by himself and his subject.D. JudgmentThe Portrait of Dr. Gachet stirred controversy for the high harm it was bought and the mystery of its vanishing. It was auction in 1990 with a bidding that started with $20 million and sealed with $ 82.5 million. A Japanese industrialist kept it in a secret store room. He gained notoriety when he exclaimed in communicate that the piece would be cremated with him. After his death, the painting was said to have been sold, but it was no longer seen by the public. The Portrait of Dr. Gachet is controversial not only because it was the painting bought with the highest price for an auction. The very manner of passing it from one collector to another who did not have any intere st in sharing it to the public, and not even to view it himself, (Kleiner, 2000) show how art is a property of the privileged. Its vanishing act sparked further debates on the commodification of art. The common horizon revolves around the seemingly waste of art because Van Gogh was important to the public. But, the privileged (collector) did not have the intention to give. It seemed their own love of art is a pretension. (Berger, 103)E. ConclusionThe Portrait of Dr. Gachet is a portrait of many values. It is a portrait drawn to portray beyond social status. It also described social relations. It is an artwork about perception and emotions.It is an intimate portrait of a man who was supposed to cure the painter. It is significant to all who appreciate Van Gogh. It is also valuable to all who regard art beyond ones private collection.