Portraits do not exist to simply show what a person looks like, portraits are meant to strip people their essence and convey the embodiment of a person, “Portraits should provide us with authentic insights into individual personalities and this means much more than simply recording physical impressions…the task of the portrait artist is no so much to produce a likeness as to capture the “reality” of a person”, (Neville Drury, 1992). A painted portrait possesses a life of its own that stems from deep within the painters’ soul and shows the raw soul of the sitter; portraits should allow you to see who the person truly is, its an embodiment.

Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 conveys the essence of who van Gogh was, his state of mind and mood through visual …show more content…
His work is encumbered with lines as his canvas is densely laden gestural brushstrokes rendered in a bright, opulent palette emphasize Van Gogh's personal expression brought to life through his canvas. Van Gogh’s impulsive application of paint and symbolic laden colours are skillfully combined to express subjective emotions that are at a constant war internally. Frozen features, hard and emaciated with deep sea green eyes appear perturbed and obstinate as they hold the onlooker in a transfixed state, while his facial expression remains calm his eyes are rimmed with a look of precarious insecurity, their focus is not on what is occurring outside but rather inside his mind. A tranquil mixture of absinth green and faded turquoise dominate the painting as they are held in a striking antithesis with the explosive, vivid orange of the beard and hair, these clashing colours illustrate the clashing of his thoughts, emotions and even his idea of “self”. The jeopardy and turmoil is straining to be able to keep its agitation and trembling under control. Van Gogh challenges the calm connotations of cool greens and blues, as he jarringly contrasts them with the fiery red hair and beard, the unease created perfectly reflects the psychological state of the portrait. The dissolving colours and tempestuous patterns strike a cord within the viewer, which signals the feeling of distention and pressure. This symbolizes the …show more content…
The contrast and combination of the colours lead to a deeper psychological understanding of the painting. The way the room is painted makes it seem almost insignificant. The bold colors are shrouded in shadows and there are no windows to give perspective. The back blue wall overpowers the background, the manner in which the walls are lit that adds to a sense of gloom and even dread. The colour blue is carries connotations of calm water which is associated with life; either ride the waves or drown. The colour red is associated with anger, lust and yearning love. There is contrast between the black and white of the portrait: the white of the veils is associated with purity, this is the least shown colour, and black is commonly associated with death, which the man could be a representative of. The women dressed in red could be a representative of pain and a deep hurt. The red woman and the black man could be the faceless lovers Pain and Death, it could symbolise how they go hand in hand and that love is blind. The red woman is pain and love, the suited man is death and the wall represents life; this creates harmony, as there is