It’s all yellow!

I confess, I ADORE Vincent Van Gogh! Ever since I was introduced to his work as part of those ever compulsory art lessons in school, my love for his work continued long after.

You may have seen this painting over a hundred times (or more!) However, have you ever noticed how he uses only one main colour, from that extracting a range of other tones, from bright, drab and melancholy?

I have always been interested in finding connections between colours and us as humans, our personalities and cultural identities. I have created artwork based on this in the past!

Did you know Van Gogh used spontaneous, gestural painting and symbolic colours to deliver his innermost feelings? In fact, Many later modern movements, including Fauvism and Abstract Expressionism, were defined by these techniques and practices.

We all know he used his art to express his emotions, especially when he was depressed. For me personally, his paintings give me a mix of emotions from sadness to joy. Indeed, it is a strange one; how can you simultaneously feel happy and sad? I love sunflowers, therefore the sunflowers itself makes me happy. But the tones of which they are painted, make me feel sad.

Why did Gogh choose to express how he felt in the shade yellow? Isn’t yellow normally a ‘happy’ colour?

I remember having a conversation with a friend about this painting. We were discussing how the painting made us feel, and what message it delivered to us personally. The conversation got a little deep, we started talking about life and its different stages, it got us wondering what Gogh must have been thinking about when painting each individual sunflower. Have you ever thought to yourself how each sunflower in his series are in a different stage of development—some are blooming, some have already bloomed, and the rest are wilting away? There is a lot of hidden meaning; it symbolises the circle of life and how everything has a start and a finish. This painting, in my opinion, conveys loneliness and melancholy because each flower is about to enter its period of decay. As the painting is "still," it depicts a lack of life that has been frozen in time.

“Real painters do not paint things as they are, they paint them as they themselves feel them to be.” (Vincent Van Gogh)

The sunflower series is a wonderful example of poetic nuance and individual melancholy. He seems to have created a poem or a story that brings out in me previously suppressed feelings and thoughts. This is a painting that tells a story that is as personal to me as it would be to you, evoking the feelings it does so.

What emotions does this painting evoke in you?

When I was still a student, I painted a self-portrait that was inspired by Van Gogh's sunflower. I gave myself a yellow makeover. To add depth to what seemed impossible, it was quite challenging to paint all areas in a similar colour, including the background, face, and clothing. Despite the fact that this was a challenging task, I enjoyed experimenting and making things that I didn't think I could. I named this painting ‘Summer Time Sadness’ because, once again, the yellow tones make me feel summery, bright, and joyful. However, the subject matter with the ochre's deeper tones makes me feel sad and alone.

When I look back on this after years, it still makes me feel proud. What are your thoughts?

My love/hate relationship with watercolours!