The Strokes of Madness: A Study of Spaces in the Paintings of Vincent Van Gogh

Abstract

Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter who created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. It can be seen that van Gogh’s paintings and the spaces that he take up as the subjects of his works are often inspired by the simple imageries of everyday life; and so, he is often considered as a painter of rural life and nature. Most of the paintings were artistic representations of his favourite places, but the way in which they were represented hinted the mind-set of the painter. Some spaces are visual explosions of bright colours, whereas some a harmonic combination of pastel shades. This extremist feature was present not only in the paintings, but also in the life of Van Gogh. The paper examines in detail the spaces represented in his paintings.