Vincent Van Gogh the Sower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vincent Van Gogh the Sower - Essay Example The essay "Vincent Van Gogh the Sower" analyzes the painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Being a marvelous demonstration of van Gogh's signature style The Sower illustrates wise biblical statements, which play a huge role in the life of the painter, and has a clear metaphorical meaning. The painting combines straight and wavy brushstrokes. Thus, the lines used by van Gogh to create a field, which the sower is walking through, are quite abrupt but intertwined. As van Gogh was a religious man the image of a solitary working man, who starts his day with the dawn, communicates symbolic meaning influenced by biblical themes, according to which everyone reaps what he or she sows. A huge circular blinding shape of the rising sun makes the figure of the sower look small as if stressing on frailty of human life, which is brief and may end before the day is done. Such deliberate variety of shapes used by van Gogh (including straight geometrical shapes of the sun rays) within one piece serves philosop hical purposes and emphasizes the keynote of The Sower, in which a bright sun painted in a vivid color might be a symbol of God. Although the painting has lots of implied lines it does not seem to have a clear implied mass. Both the sun behind the sower's back and the sower himself have actual mass. However, although the space of the painting is flat and two-dimensional, the field that the sawer walks through seems to have an implied depth partially due to its vertical placement, which creates an illusion of depth.