Expressionism

Van Gogh, portrait-with bandaged ear

Soutine’s, Woman in Red

In my opinion, I feel as if expressionism is a medium/art form of describing feeling or a way of thinking. It could describe depression, happiness, anger, jealously, or pain. Examples of this are Soutine’s, Woman in Red. I feel this piece reflec­ts of his inner disturb­ance or of his inspir­at­ion/drive caused by something he would gain out of creating the piece. The colors in his pictures tell the emotions present in the piece. Darker colors represent solemnness, while more vibrant colors represent happiness, and excitement. Another great example of an expressionist with emotional disturbance influenced on his work would be Vincent Van Gogh. As a struggling artist with anxiety and mental issues, he was a compulsive thinker. I know as a person who most probably has OCD, I also think compulsively. I always think about my work over, and over again. A thought in a deep analysis, will never leave my mind until it works out in such a way that I am satisfied with myself. During this process, my emotions seep into the piece I am working on at the moment. At times, the emotions are anger or frustration.  Having to do things over and over again to make them “perfect” is very time consuming and obnoxious. It makes one very anxious, and angry at the piece, causing the artist to want to start over again. I think I understand, to some extent, how Van Gough must have felt while doing his work. When he was admitted into the treatment centers, he would often paint himself. Those self-portraits, to me, reflect his pain and remorse for doing such things to his own body. He seems depressed in these paintings, and it seems as if he also feels depressed due to the fact he was a struggling artist.