Vincent van Gogh
We continue our special month with the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden's collection, which means that until the end of the month every Sunday we will present masterpieces from their magnificent collection. Enjoy! : )
"As far as my own work is concerned, I had no money for models, otherwise I would have devoted myself entirely to figure painting. But I have painted a series of colour studies, [...] I sought to give the contrast between blue and orange, red and green, yellow and violet [...]". (Vincent van Gogh, 1886). Still life paintings always offered Van Gogh the opportunity to translate his theories, which aimed at an increased intensity of colors through the use of complementary shades, into pictures. During his stay in Paris from 1886 to 1888, he also dealt intensively with the brush technique of Pointillism.
Even in Still Life with Quinces, whose state of preservation without major cracks in the layer of paint speaks for a speedy painting style, it is primarily about color. Variations of yellow in complementary gradations to blue-green tones dominate the composition, reduced to a few elements. The color tone is enhanced by short red strokes, which in turn contrast with the green of the turquoise blue. In addition, white and brown-violet shades enhance the luminosity of the colors. Van Gogh incorporated characteristic design elements of Japanese woodblock prints with the subtle ochre-yellow contouring and the absence of drop shadows. The color surfaces, rhythmized in dynamic strokes, counteract a spatial pictorial effect and above all serve as a foil to enhance the coloring of the pear-shaped quinces, which are placed on the canvas in an indulgent manner in a slight top view and physically captured by lights and shades. Together with them, the vertically directed yellow-brown-violet brush strokes in the upper right corner set few spatial accents.
P.S. Quinces are a beautiful fruit to paint, as are pears (which they resemble). Here you can find more pears hidden in great masterpieces throughout art history. <3