Art Analysis of Vincent Van Gogh's "Bandaged Ear" painting

 One piece of the art that got my attention many years ago when exploring Art History in an educational PC game was that of Vincent Van Gogh's "Bandaged Ear". When I first saw this piece of art, it made me wonder about what type of individual artist Vincent Van Gogh was. This self-portrait of him with a bandaged ear made me believe that he was either an insane individual who needed help, or that he was a violent person to himself and others. It made think about the time in which he was living in. This self-portrait is quite revealing in the sense that it appears to use light colors in order to highlight the intensity of the portrait, 2-dimensional shapes, and multiple lines in order to make the individual in the portrait stand out, regardless of what may appear in the background. The portrait also tends to reflect a sad mood of the individual. Lastly, I don't have a piece of this fine artwork, but I would like see it any art gallery/museum that I plan to visit in the near future. However, one thing that I would like to do when sharing this portrait by Vincent Van Gogh is to share the backstory of what led to this portrait. It is widely believed that Vincent Van Gogh got into an argument with an artist that he had been working with, and that shortly afterwards, Vincent Van Gogh cut off the lower part of his left ear. It is said that he was hospitalized afterwards. The portrait certainly give meaning to the phrase: "A picture is worth a thousand words"! 




Comments

  1. Juliana MondelliFebruary 9, 2023 at 6:14 PM

    Hello Abdurahman,
    I have always loved Vincent Van Gogh's artwork. He always uses bright colors and contrast for the viewer to find a deeper meaning. When looking at this piece particular, I agree that there is a sad mood to the individual, but there also seems to be more shading and undertones to them making me believe that they look as if they know something that the viewer does not know. Why did you think the artist was insane before knowing the backstory of the piece?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clara CheneyFebruary 9, 2023 at 6:53 PM

    I agree that this piece conveys a lot of emotion. I was also always curious as to why he would cut off his ear, I was definitely under the impression that he was slowly losing his mind. Something that catches my eye the most is the use of lines. The texture of the piece uses a lot of vertical lines that I find very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. M. GrzybowskiFebruary 9, 2023 at 10:10 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. M. GrzybowskiFebruary 9, 2023 at 10:13 PM

    Hi Abdurahman, I liked your analysis. I also did a van Gou piece and found information on what happened after he cut off his ear. After he was healed, he checked himself into an asylum, where he continued to paint.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UAF Spring 2023--Explorations in Art, Abdurahman Hassan's 1st blog post

Image
 Howdy everyone, My name is Abdurahman Hassan, and I'm a UAF e-learning undergraduate senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Political Science. I was born and raised in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and continue to reside in Northern Virginia. I enrolled with UAF via the e-learning system back in the Fall 2017, and I'm on the verge of finally completing my degree this semester. I am the son of Somali-immigrants, who I continue to live with, even at the age of 34! Nevertheless, I hope to find the opportunity to visit the great state of Alaska--the last frontier state & one of America's treasures in the near future. As far as this course is going, I chose this course because I really wanted explore more about the art products from some of the great painters in human history, and the lessons and messages behind their iconic masterpieces. I look forward to interacting with everyone this semester, and I hope everyone has a wonderful academic semester.  My relationship
Read more

Romantic Era Contrast: Realist vs Impressionist Art

Image
  Young Ladies of the Village by Gustave Courbet, 1851-52                    Among the differing styles of art that emerged from the Romantic Era included the Realism style of art. Realism art was "part of an art movement that last from 1840-1880", and was one that "revolted against the emotional and exaggerated themes of Romanticism (Ducksters, 2023). Realist painters "tried to depict the world as it appeared and didn't try to interpret the setting or add emotional meaning to the scenes" (Ducksters, 2023). Realist painters painted everyday subjects and people (Duckster, 2023). This painting titled Young Ladies of the Village that was done by Gustave Courbet is good example of the beauty that's associated with Realist art. Everything is detailed and is depicted as how the painter views it. This painting by Courbet was among a series of paintings that was devoted to the lives of women (The Met Museum). The 3 women in this painting are Courbet's sist
Read more