A Madman and a Sweet Guy of the Art World

Both Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) are the outstanding impressionist painters in the art world. One is often known as a madman while the other is often nicknamed as a sweet guy. Though they are both the masters of impressionism, they have different life stories and different means of artistic expression.

Vincent Willem van Gogh, a post-impressionist painter, was born in a Protestant priest family of the southern Netherlands in 1853. He is the pioneer of post-impressionism, and profoundly influenced the art of the 20th century, especially the brutalist and expressionism. Many of his works were ranked in the top global list for arts, like The Starry Night, Sunflowers, Wheat Field with Crows, etc. Poor management made his life impoverished and the only painting he sold in his life is The Red Vineyard. All his life was afflicted by hungry, misery, sad love, no fame, no fortune but disease. In July of 1890, he shot himself, and that ended his lonely and painful life at last. He was a completely loser during his lifetime. His paintings were only recognized by the world after his death.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the son of a poor tailor, was born in a small town in the mid-western France in 1841. He is also one of the leading figures in the development of impressionism. His mainstream of paintings features the depiction of female bodies. He was sent to a ceramic factory to apprentice at the age of 13 because of the poor economic conditions of his family. There he got his dream for arts started. In 1862, Renoir learned the arts from a school and became one student of Glaire. Though the Salon had ever accepted one piece of his works, his 15 pieces of paintings sent to 1875 auction were received the unsatisfactory result. Until 1879 his painting Mme. Charpentier and her children won the high praise in the salon of Paris, his poverty got a little improved. In 1894, he suffered from rheumatic arthritis. In August of 1919, his portrait of Mme. Charpentier was collected in the Louvre museum, but four months later he died of pneumonia.

For their different means of artistic expression, we can see from two pieces of self-portrait paintings respectively. Renoir is good at using light effects to express the ideas and beauties. It also won’t affect the quality of the pictures even removing the colors of the works, for the painting itself is also an excellent sketch. But van Gogh is skillful at colors. Through comparison of various colors, he boldly expressed his different kinds of subjective feelings. His paintings struck a chord with the audience regarding emotions. “Vincent van Gogh was a unique artist who worked with a sense of urgency which often caused him a great deal of stress. He was famed for his bold, dramatic brush strokes which expressed emotion and added a feeling of movement to his works.” (Artble) Below is a picture from van Gogh. He created this picture after he cut off his ear when he was about to collapse in the spirit in 1888. This Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear provides us evidence for the psychological state of the painter at that time. Through an in-depth analysis of himself in the painting, the artist clearly displayed the unique side of his characteristic. His expression for emotion was so unique and fierce that most of the people could not understand. The lines he used are symbols of conveying the hyperactive and changeful. They expressed the avalanche-like feeling of van Gogh and some power dominated these fixed forms. The wound under the gauze, the ragged man in ragged clothes, the mixed colors of red, dark, green and white give us a very depressive impression and make us imagine what this man was experiencing. This self-portrait tells me that van Gogh was strongly struggling with his body and his soul. This kind of struggling would finally enable himself to have a rebirth. It empowers me to fight for what I really desire.

In contrast, in Renoir’s self-portrait of 1899, we can see the changing of light and color, which adequately reflects the impressionism is also highly sensitive to light and color. Though Renoir suffered from poverty and disease, he dedicated his whole life to portray the beautiful things. The children were lovely; the flowers were sweet; the scenery was pleasant; the women were adorable; even himself was delightful. As we can see from this picture, every line is clear and extremely delicate. The skin glows. It gives us the impression that this old man is quite energetic and healthy. “Renoir was the first Impressionist to perceive the potential limitations of an art based primarily on optical sensation and light effects. Though his discoveries in this field would always remain integral to his art, he reasserted the necessity of composition and underlying structure in modern painting, achieving in his mature work a structured, monumental style that acknowledged the strengths of High Renaissance art.” (Art Story) This self-portrait gives me a pleasant feeling that life is beautiful and joyful. It seems Renoir was telling to me that many beautiful things ahead in life are waiting for me to discover, and many dreams are waiting for me to accomplish. This painting offers us a description for Renoir in the late life.

There are also similarities between these two self-portraits. Both of these two works are a type of reflection of the painters themselves. Incorporating the soul and the image in the paintings, not only the figures but also the characteristics of the subjects are presented to us. Every piece of work has its own unique story. Both of these two self-portraits show the confidence of the painters towards life and their persistence to arts.

Impressionism, a 19th-century artistic movement, aroused a revolution for the painting styles. It created a new way to express the artistry. Both Vincent Willem van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are the leading impressionist painters in the art world. Their different means of artistic expression bring us different refreshing experience. That will continue to encourage more artists to pursue artistic freedom and breakthrough.