实用艺术英语unitB.pptVIP

Unit 4 Text B Why Vincent van Gogh Painted Sunflowers 1 Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch painter who exemplified the idea of artist as tortured genius. His paintings are characterized by thick brush strokes, brilliant colors, and jagged lines, through which Van Gogh expressed his emotional response to his subjects rather than providing an accurate description of them. As a result he became a leader in the development of expressionism in painting. 2 The history of Impressionism would not be complete without the distinctive work of Vincent van Gogh. He began from drawing and painting dark realistic scenes, but after meeting Impressionists, he employed their motifs, bright colors and style of painting. While Vincent van Gogh painted over 300 works, he is perhaps best remembered by many for his sunflowers. So why did he paint them? 3 Some of Vincent van Gogh most famous works are his Sunflower series. He painted a total of twelve of these canvases, although the most commonly referred to are the seven he painted while in Arles in 1888-1889. The other five he had painted previously while in Paris in 1887. 4 While Vincent himself never actually stated why he liked the sunflowers in particular, references to them are made in his many letters, which help give us some ideas. In a letter to his sister dated 21 August 1888, he talks of his friend Gauguin coming to live with him in Arles. Then goes on to say that he intends to decorate the whole studio with nothing but sunflowers. He went on to write further, to his brother Theo, on the same day, “Now that I hope to live with Gauguin in a studio of our own, I want to make decorations for the studio, nothing but big flowers. Next door to your shop, in the restaurant, you know there is a lovely decoration of flowers; I always remember the big sunflowers in the window there.” 5 In another letter to Theo dated the 9th of September 1888, he wrote, “The room you will have then, or Gauguin if he