Gauguins Chair Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Description of Vincent van Gogh’s painting Gauguin’s Armchair (Chair)

One of the most famous artists of the century was born in Holland. From childhood he was a quiet and withdrawn child, and no one could have imagined that Van Gogh would reach the heights of life, become famous throughout the world, and the legacy of his paintings would be treasured forever. He was driven by an overwhelming desire to express his thoughts and assumptions about the meaning of life in his paintings.

Van Gogh carried his friendship with the famous French painter Paul Gauguin almost throughout his life. When the Frenchman arrived in Arles, in 1888, the friends lived together for two months. This interpretation of the unification of the chair owner was an extension of the work Vincent’s Chair with Pipe, which was painted during the same period. Through these paintings, the artist wanted to convey the prototype of himself and his friend, the dissimilarity of the two characters, and the chair and armchair in the center of the room carried the meaning, as it were, of the center of the universe.

As the Master himself said: "The chair is the most necessary, the main and most domestic piece of furniture. Sitting on a chair, all the elements of that object engage every part of the human body.

The chair, as well as the chair, are inanimate objects, and the seat of man and is a symbol of the living. It leaves a trace in the material realm. The very idea of depicting "empty space" appeared many times in the artist’s creative imagination after his illness, when he realized that nothing is left of a person after death.

If in the first picture the artist depicted a chair with an extinguished candle, here, sad and lonely is an armchair with a funeral candlestick.

On two canvases depicts the lack of motifs brightly - expressed life position. After all, his only friend is gone, and with his departure, all of Van Gogh’s dreams and ideas have crumbled. After all, in addition to friendship, the artist had hoped to have a long and fruitful collaboration with Gauguin.