Art Can Express More Than Words

This week in class we talked a lot about art.  We discussed how certain elements in art can make us feel, what they represent.  For example, horizontal lines symbolize rest, or repose, Vertical Lines symbolize aspirations and dreams, and diagonal lines symbolize action.  We talked about how color's make us feel.  My favorite example of this was when we talked about van Gogh's painting of the room with the bar table in it.  That painting was made with very bright yellows, reds, and greens, however the combination of them together gave the picture a very depressing feeling, it was not very pleasant to look at.  Everyone in class agreed that this painting made us feel depressed, we did not want to go to that bar.  Some of the reasons I think it had this effect was first because of the weird perspective, the lines were not all lined up together, there were weird diagonal lines, and the table looked weird.  But I think that the major contributer was the overwhelming bright colors, that might be thought of as cheerful, but the way that van Gogh used them made them depressive.  

My favorite point of class this past week was when we looked at the last pointing Vincent van Gogh painted.   The scene was on a crossroad in the middle of a wheat field.  The color of the wheat was the same bright depressing yellow that he used in his pool table painting.  The sky was a dark blue on the left side which faded to a black black in the right corner.  There was a flock of black crows or ravens flying from the wheat field into the darkness in the right corner and when I first looked at the painting I got an ominous feeling that something bad was coming to the person at this crossroad.  

Then Jacie asked us how the painting was expressive and I couldn't really think of too much but when she told us that it was van Gogh's last painting, and that he committed suicide, the painting suddenly took on a whole new meaning!  It was a sudden insight into his mind! He was the one at the crossroad... he had three paths to choose, but in this painting he chose to focus on the one that ended.  The path in the middle of the painting went on for a little ways and then suddenly ended turning into yellow field and horizon.  Van Gogh chose his path, he knew what was coming, and so did the crows in the field.  They were flying into the darkness that van Gogh felt.  They were flying away from the field and away from life! 

This painting is amazing to me because of all the emotion that can be extracted from it.  But at the same time it is depressing and scary.  It is sad that a person can feel such sorrow and hopelessness that they feel as the person at this cross road felt.  That they could have two other paths choose that maybe took them to a beautiful place beyond the horizon, that could bring so much happiness and light, and instead they choose the path that leads into the darkness and then just ends.  But maybe that was the point of the art, to give people like me, who have never been at a point like this in my life, where I felt death was the only option, the understanding and ability to see how people who are depressed and suicidal see the world.  I think that words could not and cannot descripe how van Gogh felt, so he painted his feelings, and those feelings touched me. I loved it!