Massimo Roger: N. N. 7-ART SCHOOL-Vincent VAN GOGH, the subtle brightness and light variations

N. N. 7-ART SCHOOL-Vincent VAN GOGH, the subtle brightness and light variations
(3 of 4-second to last episode)

In 1889, Van Gogh wrote about Millet's work, once again seeing color as a form of language: ′′ Working on Millet's drawings is more similar to translating them into another language than copying them ". And One year has passed since the completion of the second ′′ sower ′′ (Metzger & Walther, 1996, p. 272). The colors he used become the language of his experience and adherence to the physical stimuli of his environment became subordinated to this reflection of his inner feelings.
A second example of the progressive change in the palette of its colors has been marked by a growing interest in subtle brightness and variation in light intensity. During the first years of his work, especially in 1885 when he made the great masterpiece ′′ The Potato Eaters ", he focuses on light and dark changes more than on shade. He creates the tone and mood, changing the brightness and saturation of the darker shades.

′′ The overall effect of color in nature can be painfully lost in literal imitation; it can be maintained by recreating a range of parallel colors..... everything depends on my feeling for the infinite variety of tones of the same family.... ′′ Van Gogh Letter No. 429, October 1885, (Suh, 2006, p. 155).
When moving from Nuenen to Antwerp (1885), (Metzger and Walther 1996, p. 62) his work becomes increasingly violent and aggressive, especially in contrasts of color and tone, with the impulsive, violent application of the paint directly from the tube. This dominates the canvas and replaces the motifs of nature that had been the feature of his first works. The change shows that Van Gogh now had to reconcile his private subjective perception of the world with objective phenomenological reality.

From 1885 until his death in 1890, his letters document the obsessive details with which he describes the colors of his canvases. Each description explains the shade, intensity and saturation of his palette. The symbolism of his colors is reflected in a letter to his brother Theo, in which he describes ′′ Coffee at night ":

′′ I tried to express humanity's terrible passions with red and green. The room is red blood and matt yellow, with a green pool table in the middle, there are four lemon yellow lamps expressing an orange and green glow. Everywhere there is a struggle and the clash between very different greens and the reds in the small figure of the good-for-nothing sleeping, in the sad and empty room purple and blue. The red blood and yellow-green of the pool table, for example, contrast with the delicate Louis XV green of the counter with his pink flowers bouquet... And in the middle of this furnace, the white dress of the landlord, who watches from a corner, turns light yellow, bright green....

In my coffee image at night, I tried to convey the sense that coffee is a place where you go to ruin, you go crazy, you commit crimes. I tried to express the powers of darkness, in a way, in this immersion in a coffee, through the contrasts of delicate pink, blood red, red wine, soft green, Louis XV and Veronese green, in contrast to green, blue and green Violent yellows, all of this in the middle of a hellish furnace of pale sulfur... ".
(′′ Letter No. 533, Suh, p. 224).
It will follow - Part 4 (last episode) in the next post n. 8

Massimo Roger
President of the UNESCO Club of Genoa and
President of International Action Art-ITALY

Massimo Ruggero