art Vincent van Gogh

media handling/techniques

• expressive brushstrokes- Vincent’s expressive, exaggerated brushstroke technique in the background gives a sense of movement and energy

• impasto paint- think impasto oil paint is applied straight from the tube to create an almost sculptural feel giving strong visual impact

mood/atmosphere

• gaze- Vincent shows his mood of determination to fight his manic depression with his strong gaze back at us with piercing eyes

• background- a mood of blurred confusion reflecting the ‘voices’ in vincent’s head, is created by the swirling dream like patterns that make up the background

colour

• complementary colour- Vincent has chosen a blue jacket and imagined a blue background, to deliberately contrast with the complementary colouring of his fiery orange beard and hair to create strong visual impact

• tints- Vincent has used white tints to soften the blue swirls in the background to give greater contrast to the vibrant warmer colours of his face and hair to express emotion and show the difference between his ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ world

scale

• human scale- the portrait is of a human scale, life size, which allows us to relate to Vincent as someone like us and heightens our connection with him

• distortion- Vincent has distorted and enlarged his left shoulder, creating a sense of foreshortening which creates a dramatic depth to the portrait