FISHERMAN'S WIFE ON THE BEACH and PORTRAIT OF A PEASANT (PATIENCE ESCALIER)

  

Fisherman's Wife on the Beach - 1882

In 1883, a year after Van Gogh did this painting, he wrote, 'a very heavy burden has fallen from my shoulders.'  A year earlier he wasn't able to paint a good figure, and it bothered him terribly.  At this time, he still worked in what is called "the dry manner," which is drawing first and then filling in the outline.  By 1883, he knew how to approach the problem by first placing the colors next to each other correctly and then worrying about the drawing.  

Here Van Gogh paints the beach and the sea in flowing movements with a fairly large brush, and the woman with a narrower brush.  He avoids complicated details--The effect is of primary importance to him.  The woman's red cape and white cap create a modest effect with the dark grey-green and brown background. 

One empathizes with this woman waiting for her husband to return.  The stormy weather is causing her worry about her husband's safety while he's out in a fishing boat.  This is a lonely soul in a storm.

We'll move on to another of his works............

Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier) - 1888

Van Gogh was able to get willing sitters from among his acquaintances to enable him to practice portrait painting.  Some sitters expected something in return, like the painting itself or sometimes hard cash.  Vincent's choice of portrait sitter was unreasonable in his demands, so he found an alternative.  His name was Patience Escalier, a former cowhand and then gardener.  Van Gogh made several paintings of Mr. Escalier.

Sunburnt and weather-beaten, Patience Escalier gazes at us with blazing intensity.  With yellow, vivid blue, green and red, this portrait was perhaps Vincent's most daring color experiment to date.  He wrote to Theo, "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, in order to express myself with force." 

If you are intrigued by the poser's name Patience, like I was, it is a name created by the English Puritans in the 1600s.  Patience is a virtue.  

When we compare this portrait with The Potato Eaters, we see Vincent has come a long way with the use of color.  We are watching the blossoming of an artist.   Take time to look closely at the details of the hat, the eyes and mouth.  The green vertical brush strokes on the jacket.  There's so much here to scrutinize.  The coloring, the shading, facial expression, brush technique of each color.

Vincent signed his first name on the top left.  Note how small his name is written.  He truly was not a vain man.  🖌