Sunday the 22nd March,

We visited the Museum of Van Gogh. It is quite awing to see/experience someone/something you've heard so much about your whole life for the first time, like spotting a celebrity. I've always admired Van Gogh's work, and his style of expressive painting is bold and touching, with its large brush strokes. It added a feeling of movement to his pieces.

Seeing Potato Eaters for the first time is inspiring, and you can really pick out all the individual hairs in the paint. I also very much enjoyed all his self-portraits, and his letters, which I have not seen too much online. The contrast of his red-orange facial hair and blue clothing is always beautifully contrasting.

Potato Eaters, 1885, Oil on canvas

At this exhibition I also learned about some of Van Gogh's idols, especially Leon Augustin Lhermitte. I loved his work. He was a French realist painter, and the work I saw at the exhibition was The Haymakers. Lhermitte's work was amazing, and the array of colours made me feel as if I was at the place of the painting. It was expressive, not overly dramatic, yet light-enough to give the scene a idyllic air. The brush strokes were enough to convey a near photorealistic picture, yet allows you to know that there is texture and layer, applications of oil.

I felt this exhibition was great, and gave me lots of new insight into the mind of Van Gogh and his process. You see him grow and change through his work, and it was a nice step into his mind. Also I was introduced to new painters, such as Lhermitte, that I loved as well, and others, such as Hiroshige, the Japanese artist, that influenced Van Gogh as well. 

Haymakers, by Leon Augustin Lhermitte