Bedroom at Arles essays

Bedroom at Arles essays When I first looked at this painting, I thought to myself, "It's boring. It's boring to look at. Why paint a picture of an empty bedroom?" However, once I started looking at all the elements, my mind changed. Van Gogh's use of line really gives depth and character to the piece. The first line that caught my eye was the line outlining the bottom of the bed. The strong stroke really gives you a sense of distance between the bottom of the frame and the floor. Had it been a thin line like those to depict the floorboards, it would look like the bed was sitting directly on the floor. His use of brush strokes and the thickness of them vary immensely in the painting to create depth. The strong strokes of the chair in the lower left hand corner really gives you a sense that the chair is in the foreground as opposed to the chair next to the head of the bed. That chair, painted with thinner lines tells you the chair is further back. The use of color originally struck me as bland. The use of reds and oranges overwhelmed me to the point where I was trying to focus on other colors in the painting. I think that is a point of the painting. I think Van Gogh wanted the viewer to look around. I also think that Van Gogh wanted to use these particular colors to create depth. The use of reds and oranges dominate the foreground with the frame of the bed, the bed sheet and the chair in the lower left corner. The use of blue on the walls pulls everything in and creates the depth. Had the wall been green, brown, red or black, there would not be a great depth. In regards to depth, the use of lines in the floorboards creates depth, drawing your eye to and from the back of the room. Color values are strong in this painting. It goes back to what I said about color, but I believe the soft hue of the blue walls against the strong hue of the bed frame and floor provides enough contrast to pull you into the painting. I also like the strong hue of the table. ...