Explore the Description of this artwork, Vincent van Gogh (Russell painting).
The portrait depicts Van Gogh against a dark, featureless background. In his hand, he holds a pencil, an "emblem" of the sitter. Instead of going with a customary full-face or strict profile view, Russell chose a three-quarter view in which the sitter turns his head to look out across his shoulder at the viewer, adding a "new drama" to the formats of Russell's early portraiture. Van Gogh's "somewhat downcast and elusive" gaze also sees Russell introducing a "psychological insight" into the character of his sitter.The painting's realism is clearly influenced by photography, although the hand and the face show impressionistic brushstrokes, foreshadowing the direction of Russell and Van Gogh's art. Russell's use of browns, reds and flesh tones are in keeping with the traditional académie palette, but the way in which the light falls across the sitter's face and hand, while completely missing the shoulder, transforms it into an unusually strong aesthetic element. According to Ann Gallaby and Robyn Sloggett, "This kind of illumination, combined with the deliberate effect of rapid brushwork as in an ébauche, suggests that the portrait is to be seen as a study in creative intensity – on the part of artist as well as sitter."While Vincent van Gogh is still noted for its "Rembrandtesque light", specialists have pointed out that the paint has darkened over time. Scottish artist Archibald Standish Hartrick, who first met Van Gogh at Russell's studio, remarked that the painting was not so dark originally, and remembered it depicting the Dutchman in a striped blue suit. Indeed, close analysis of the painting reveals a few faint blue stripes at its lower right edge. Further analysis also shows that Russell inscribed the painting in a similar fashion to other portraits dating from his early Paris years. The inscription above Van Gogh's head, originally in red but now barely visible, include the words pictor (Latin for “painter”) and amitié (French for “friendship”).
impressionist Archibald Standish Hartrick impressionistic Rembrandt realism académie ébauche three-quarter view Paris Vincent van Gogh