Vincent van Gogh – First Steps, after Millet Metropolitan Museum: part 2

A description of Vincent van Gogh’s "First Steps" painting

Van Gogh eschewed traditional art, and used broad strokes and paints to express pure emotion. This manner of the master set his works apart from other post-Impressionists. He was interested in people, their essence, human feelings. He used free pure color to express the theme.

When Van Gogh decided to become a painter, he realized he had a lot to learn. He began to study textbooks on anatomy and perspective, as well as copying works by Mullet, the French artist and founder of the Barbizon school. The budding artist was impressed by the subjects of rural life, the monumental simplicity of the figures, with recognizable poses and gestures.

"First Steps" is one of those subjects that Van Gogh interpreted. Here, we recognize not only man as such, with his misfortunes, hopes, and disappointments, but also a truly profound relationship to art and to the essence of man. There are no superficial judgments in the portrayal of people.

In front of us a man intellectual, spiritual and honest. In the 19th century was born a special theory of color - pointillism, consisting in the denial of a solid tone and the division of the surface into components.

Colorism and painting were freed from the techniques of the past, and replaced by the transfer of the impression and image of objects by means of color, contrast and whole pictorial parts. Thanks to the new theory of color, as if rediscovered its properties and applications.

Here the color speaks for itself, the eye, looking at the picture, itself mixes the colors applied to the canvas. Color occupied Van Gogh more than anything else. It takes on a considerable weight with which the artist conveys his feelings and reactions.

Vincent Van Gogh had his own philosophy of painting, which he likened to music. His colors are thick and rich, but at the same time harmonize with each other on the canvas. The painting is not based on drawing or depicting people, but on the artist’s personal attitude and symbolism.