By Behind a beautiful painting, there is sometimes a dark side that needs to be uncovered. Following this idea, today we want to talk about the hidden side of Vincent Van Gogh’s work.
Acclaimed as one of the main exponents of post-impressionism, you may not know that behind the light emanating from his paintings, there is a dark secret hidden . So, today we present to you the story of Van Gogh and the mystery of the yellow color.
To put the enigma into context, we will give you some relevant information so that, little by little, you can understand why this colour was used so much by the painter.
Impressionism and Paris as a starting point
Paris at the end of the 19th century with Montmartre as a fashionable district, time and place of birth of Impressionism. The Impressionists wanted to break with the academic vision of painting and, to do so, they showed everyday life with portraits of the lower classes.
Therefore, in this era of progress where photography is increasingly booming, the impressionist expresses himself with light, colour and landscapes with expressive brushstrokes that represent a totally new way of seeing reality.
Among the great fathers of impressionism, the following stand out among many:
- Monet .
- Renoir.
- Matisse.
- Rodin.
Vincent van Gogh, one of the greatest exponents of post-impressionism
In this context, Paris is Van Gogh’s starting point (although he was born in Holland in 1853). Thus, his creations began to be very everyday, painting more than 1000 works between paintings and drawings.
Furthermore, he was not only influenced by the Impressionists, but also drew on Japanese prints and their use of colour. For all these reasons, he is recognised as one of the main precursors of Post-Impressionism .
Meaning of the color yellow
To understand the symbolism created around this shade, it is important to delve into the meaning of colors. In this sense, yellow is a bright color, associated with fun, creativity, and youth. In fact, this is one of the reasons why it is used so much in the world of marketing and cinema.
On the other hand, its complementary color is purple (a play of colors that can be seen very well in The Starry Night ). However, as verified by the following study developed by the Journal of Medieval Hispanic Studies , the truth is that it also has many negative connotations, since it is a symbol of toxicity, betrayal, heretics and repudiation .
The yellow house, the origin of his loneliness
Motivated by the idea of growing as an artist, he moved to the famous yellow house in Arles with the idea of concentrating several artists in it as if it were a studio . This is where the mystery of the yellow color in his paintings begins to take shape.
Paul Gauguin was the only one who agreed to live in the yellow house with Van Gogh. Therefore, the initial plan was not fulfilled. So much so that Gauguin also ended up leaving him because they had very different ideas about art and because he could not stand loneliness, this was one of the reasons why Van Gogh cut off his ear .
After that, he acquired the habit of going out into the countryside to paint. His loneliness made him turn to absinthe, which contained a psychoactive compound that produced hallucinations. Along the same lines, the toxicity of the lead in the paints also caused him to develop epilepsy.
All of this led to his admission to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole mental hospital between 1889 and 1890. It was here that he painted his most famous work: The Starry Night , with its peculiar vision of the moon, which is the most faithful representation of the views he had from this hospital.
Why did Van Gogh choose yellow in the last years of his life?
Van Gogh used yellow to paint practically everything:
- Skin tones.
- Furniture.
- Stars.
- Flowers.
When he was discharged, he moved into a house in the countryside with a friend, Dr. Gachet, who shared his artistic vision. The friendship between them was such that Vincent Van Gogh recreated his figure to perfection in The Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890), but not only that.
In the painting he appears holding a plant that will give an answer to this obsession of the painter with warm colours: Digitalis purpurea . It is said that this plant was prescribed by Gachet and, at this time, it was used to treat heart failure, but it is also supposed to have helped with epilepsy or neurosyphilis (diseases that some critics believe the painter may have had).
However, it also had some side effects, including a change in yellow color vision .
Van Gogh and the mystery of the yellow color: a dark enigma hidden
There is no doubt that, behind the light that his paintings give off, yellow hides a dark secret: the story of a man who suffered and who expressed his vision of the world in solitude, relying on canvas, paper and brush.
Van Gogh was found shot in the chest at the age of 37 in the arms of his brother Theo. The first version of his death was that he committed suicide . The second claims that Van Gogh was painting outside and was shot. In any case, there are still many doubts about what really happened.
To better understand the universe of a painter who worked with future generations in mind and who is today one of the most acclaimed artists in the world, we recommend watching the following films to complement the article on Vincent Van Gogh and the Mystery of the Color Yellow :
- Van Gogh at Eternity’s Gate (2018): a film that portrays the last years of his life, focusing on scenes with yellow tones so that the viewer can put themselves in his shoes.
- Van Gogh Letters (2017): A film that deals with theories of how he died through correspondence with his brother Theo.
Because of what he represents, his history and the value of his work, we are talking about one of the greatest painters in history. A life full of mysteries that continues to arouse our curiosity.