“There is no blue without yellow and without orange,” said Van Gogh. This phrase sums up his hopeful way of facing life. Although loneliness and unhappiness chased him, Van Gogh knew there is always light at the end of the tunnel and was able to share this feeling through his brush strokes.
During his first period, Van Gogh's paintings are gloomy and mournful. They picture not only the miserable realities of the society he lived in, but also his deepest and saddest feelings. After moving to Paris, this world-famous painter finds the light he was after. His landscapes turn full of bright and cheerful colours, such as The Starry Night or Olive Trees. Moreover, Farmhouse in Provence (1888) is like the opposite idea to his On the road (1881), where the viewer gets a blue feeling.
Moreover, even in his last painting, Wheatfield with Crows -where Van Gogh shows how angry and depressed he was and the dreadful ideas he had in mind by means of the crows the wheat to be harvested gives the viewer the feeling of a hopeful future.
All in all, no matter how blue Vincent Van Gogh's life was, he let the world see his feelings of hope and optimism in each of his yellow and orange brush strokes.
Ivana Magistrali is currently completing her third year of teacher training at Instituto “San José” Superior DIPREGEP 4808, Tandil. This piece is her final version of a process writing activity for the subject Written Expression III.
