The Van Gogh Museum is somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a very long time. I feel like Van Gogh’s work has been a constant theme running throughout my art education. I have always been inspired by how he captures his subject matter through his unique style of painting.
Revisiting some of Van Gogh’s work that I hadn't looked at in a while made me realise how expressive and freeing his use of line is within his paintings. I no longer paint with oils and acrylics like I used to but I feel like his brushwork has actually influenced the way I draw, especially in my work where I am building up images from short lines and dots but in a much more precise way.
Van Gogh chose to draw a lot of flowers in vases which sparks a conversation about how humans restrict and control nature. I feel like this is also a comment on his own mindset at the time and painting flowers in flat interior spaces rather than in the natural world could be a metaphor for the restrictions and imprisonment he was feeling within himself. I find it really interesting to see the fluctuation of the themes and moods of his work in relation to his mental state. This probably sounds quite irrelevant to my PPP blog but I feel like focussing on looking at contemporary illustration for the last few years has made me forget how much I love looking at traditional art and discussing it.
I really felt inspired by the letters that Van Gogh wrote to his family and friends, the museum had some on display and you were able to listen to some of them being read out loud. It got me thinking about how I record my experiences and creative process at the moment. My college blog is the main place where I record my thoughts and I see it as my go-to place where I can let out my frustrations and rationalise my thinking processes. I think when I graduate I will need to create another space for me to do this and I would prefer if this wasn't public. I always feel a little bit of pressure to filter my thoughts when I know that other people will be reading it so I think somewhere private and personal would be the best place for me to be truly honest with myself. I find the process of writing by hand quite therapeutic and it allows my thoughts to flow, maybe I should start keeping a creative journal or something similar.
‘When one is busy in the city no one really understands anything.’
This was a line from one of Van Gogh’s letters that really caught my attention. It made me think about my own future and where I see myself living. I have grown up in a house which was walking distance into the town centre but an even shorter distance to farmers fields and woodland. Moving to Leeds for university has made me realise how much I love living in a city, but I don’t ever want to lost that closeness to the countryside as I think it’s what keeps me sane and provides me with a lot of inspiration.
I am SO glad I have been to see Van Gogh’s work in person and I can honestly say its one of the best places I have been to. I think the main thing I love about Van Gogh’s work is his ability to make you feel something. He can make you read into his paintings and knowing about his disorderly and interesting life only makes the messages even stronger.
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