Vincent Van Gogh: Artistic Genious or Mental?

Known for the eerie beauty in his artwork, nineteenth century artist Vincent Van Gogh is well known for his painting “Starry Night”. While most of us are solely familiar with this piece of Van Gogh’s artwork, others pieces tend to resemble that same sense of espionage with its symbolic textures. Patricia Matthews author of “Aurier and Van Gogh: Criticism and Response”, analyzes Albert Aurier’s analysis of Van Gogh’s artwork. Albert Aurier was a nineteenth century art critic and artist himself who lived during the time period of Van Gogh. In article, Matthews includes many direct quotations that Aurier made regarding Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork and includes several paintings to exemplify these ideas. Overall, it seems most obvious that Albert Aurier considered Van Gogh’s work to be highly symbolical in a twisted yet dazzling way.

    Van Gogh often distorted images of nature such as trees and mountains to convey various symbolic messages. This method of portraying nature in his artwork was fairly consistent throughout many of his paintings and have deep metaphorical implications. Van Gogh considered himself a “highly sensitive” artist and he felt as though he “lost consciousness” when he was painting through his emotions. Van Gogh was a very unconventional artist, thus his work received a great deal of criticism.
    Patricia Matthews spends the majority of this scholarly article talking about the critical remarks that Albert Aurier made regarding Van Gogh’s artwork. For example, in response to Van Gogh’s piece Cypresses, Aurier responds to how the trees are “twisted like battling giants”, and how the bright colors “set fire onto themselves”. Aurier states that these paintings give off a very radiant vibe which is fairly obvious after viewing Van Gogh’s artwork. Aurier stated that it seemed that Van Gogh felt as though nature was its own being and had a mind of its own. While observing this artwork, it is hard to disagree with how Aurier responded to Van Gogh’s artwork. Images of nature truly are distorted to convey a sense of personality within the trees, mountains, clouds, etc.
    Aurier also stated that the one of the main feelings that Van Gogh’s pieces give off is that of ecstasy and exaggeration. Based on viewing the piece Mountains at St. Remy, it is clear that the overall shape and representation of the mountains are very distorted. While some might interpret it as distortion, others, including Aurier interpreted it as overwhelming and fascinating. I myself feel that this painting is quite interesting. It seems as though Van Gogh interpreted the mountains as living and moving beings. Overall, I feel that Aurier’s interpretations of Van Gogh’s work are very convincing. The analysis that he made regarding various paintings are quite accurate seeing that they go beyond what the common viewer would see. In this article, it is obvious that Aurier is a professional art critic and his opinions are even more convincing since he lived during the time that many of these pieces were constructed.
    Throughout this article, we see detailed analysis and opinions that Albert Aurier makes regarding Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork. From this article, it is obvious that Aurier had a general feeling of bedazzlement about Van Gogh’s paintings and that they were all highly symbolic. While it is common to hear criticism of older pieces of art by those studying art today, I feel that since this article represents Van Gogh’s art by someone who lived over a century ago is compelling. It is truly informational to hear a professional art critic’s response to one of the most famous artists known in history to better understand the symbolism of art.