Van Gogh [antikvár]

It may seem surprising that a painter of 'musical' compositions in which an emotional response is provoked by the contrast or harmony of pure, intense colours, should he so interested in the human face. After all, a face reflects ("houghts, feelings, a soul. How can such things be portrayed by mere coloured dots and lines ? What opportunity do they give the artist to create the poetry of colour which we find in Simjloivers or the Yellow Wheatfields ? But Van Gogh shows us that it can be done. The Arlésienne, green on a yellow background, is like an incantation. The pale face of Doc/or Gachet on a background as blue as the night sums up all the heart-rending implications of a useless love. It is true that for a long time, and at a time when his style was more obviously suited to psychological studies. Van Gogh was not interested in his own face. In Holland he had eyes only for the movements and gestures of the miners of (^uesmes or the peasants of Nuenen. Except for the Pofa/n Haters or the Old Peasant Woman, their faces are practically unknown to us. It is the silhouette, and the i)dd touch of