The City of Light

Van Gogh would find himself living in France around March of 1886. His thirst for the

arts led to countless hours spent painting subjects such as his friends and acquaintances. He began his career painting self-portraits and still lives in France, where he searched for truth and meaning to life, as well as art. But oddly enough, he would begin to study Japanese woodblock prints and grow heavily intrigued by Japonaiserie in France of all places. Today, van Gogh is famously known for his ability to portray vivid colors in this sort of blunt and powerful way. But early in his career, van Gogh never expanded on his use of colors and his early works were quite simple in terms of color use. But after viewing one of Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli’s portraits, van Gogh was highly inspired to create a dynamic range of colors throughout countless numbers of works going forward. In the early years of van Goghs time spent in France, he worked with a small group of aspiring art students who would paint countless portraits of van Gogh. During the time, van Gogh was living, as well as working with his beloved brother and friend, Theo. The two would eventually drift apart due to a number of confrontations while living together. But the twos fall out would eventually lead to a mutual respect, as well as leading van Gogh to Emile Bernard, a well respected artist who learned the element of pointillism alongside van

Gogh; a technique that requires a multitude of small colored dots applied to the canvas.