Van Gogh and the mystery of the color yellow

Established as one of the main exponents of post-impressionism, perhaps you don’t know that Behind the light given off by the paintings he painted, a dark secret is hidden.. Thus, today we present to you the story of Van Gogh and the mystery of the color yellow.

To contextualize the enigma well, we give you some relevant data so that, little by little, you understand why this color was so used by the painter.

Impressionism and Paris as a starting point

Paris at the end of the 19th century with Montmartre as a fashionable neighborhood, time and birthplace of Impressionism. The Impressionists wanted to break with the academic vision of painting and, to do so, they showed daily life with portraits of the lower classes.

Therefore, in this era of advances where photography is increasingly on the rise, the impressionist expresses himself with light, color and landscapes with expressive brush strokes 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 he also drank from Japanese prints and their use of color. For all this, He is recognized as one of the main precursors of post-impressionism.

Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Vincent Van Gogh (1890)

Meaning of the color yellow

To understand what symbolism is created around this tone, it is important to delve into the meaning of the 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 or film.

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 Hispanic Medieval Studiesthe truth is that it also has many negative connotations, since it is a symbol of toxicity, betrayal, heretics and disowned.

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 color yellow begins to be forged in his paintings.

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 abandoning him because they had very different ideas of 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 to the countryside to paint. Her loneliness caused her to turn to absinthe, which contained a psychoactive compound that produced hallucinations. Along these same lines, the toxicity of the lead in the paints also caused him to develop epilepsy.

All of this led to him being admitted to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole hospital for the mentally ill between 1889 and 1890. This is where he painted his most famous work: The starry Nightwith his 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 to a house in the country with a friend, Dr. Gachet, who shared the same artistic vision as him. The degree of friendship they had was such that Vincent Van Gogh in The Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890) recreates his figure perfectly, but not only that.

In the painting he appears holding a plant that will respond to the painter’s obsession with warm colors: 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 supposed that it also helped with epilepsy or neurosyphilis (illnesses that some critics believe the painter could have had).

However, the truth is that also It had some side effects. Among them, the alteration of yellow color vision.

Van Gogh and the mystery of the color yellow: a dark hidden enigma

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 the canvas, the paper and the brush.

Van Gogh appeared at the age of 37 with a gunshot wound to the chest in the arms of his brother Theo. The first version that was handled about his death was suicide. The second claims that Van Gogh was painting outside of it and that they shot him. In any case, there are still many doubts regarding what really happened.

To understand more the universe of a painter who worked looking at future generations and that, today, he is one of the most established artists in the world, we recommend you see, to complement the article of Vincent Van Gogh and the mystery of the color yellowthe following movies:

Van Gogh at the gates of eternity (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, because of his history and because of the value of his work, we are talking about one of the great painters in history. A life full of mysteries that continues to awaken our curiosity.

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