Two Cut Sunflowers

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In one of his letters to his brother Theo, Van Gogh said, “You may know that the peony is Jeannin's, the hollyhock belongs to Quost, but the sunflower is mine in a way”. When someone observes his oil painting Two Cut Sunflowers it makes the viewer realize how passionate he was about these flowers. He was a Post Impressionist painter and his use of vivid colors evokes an emotional response in the viewer. The language of art is truly amazing it has the power to express a myriad of emotions without the use of a single word. Van Gogh set his wilted sunflowers which are painted in shades of yellow against a complementary blue background. His use of the warm color in a full range of yellow and the cool blue enhances the liveliness of the sunflowers and gives them more depth. The area around the sunflowers is tinted and shaded which manages to make the sunflowers the focal point in the painting by putting emphasis on their size and shape. Texture also plays an important role on the observation of the viewer. Van Gogh included a texture gradient by painting the sunflowers closer therefore exhibiting the detailed surface. Although not real they look real and full in bloom before they started to wilt. The use of impasto on the colorfully radiant petals and stem shows the growth and robustness of the flowers when they were cut. Van Gogh used actual lines to create the petals, the lines are delicate and when used to outline and give the petals shape show the wilting nature of the sunflowers. An actual sunflower is composed of many small flowers crowded together which create a spiraling pattern. With the cross hatching technique Van Gogh was able to recreate that spiraling texture. The sunflowers are created as positive shapes therefore command a viewers full attention and the area around the sunflowers represents the negative shape which while empty adds to the beauty of

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