Painting:
"Landscape With Cypresses Near Arles" by Van Gogh
Poem:
"Vincent" by Phoebe Hesketh
1. See, Think, Wonder your chosen painting. (see tab 2 'Grids')
- See - What do you see?
- Think - What do you think about what you see? What is your reaction to what you see? What assumption can you make?
- Wonder - What does it make you wonder? What questions do you have? What else would you like to know?
2. Annotate key visual techniques in the painting. (see tab 3 'Techniques')
3. Record initial impression of painting using what you have discovered. This is to ensure you can make a substantial comparison between your impression and that of the poets.
- Rural scene
- Tranquillity, open spaces or unsettled, crazy and chaotic
- Range of colours: blue, grey, light blue, white, darker colours
- Sky: either swirls of cloud or gusts of wind
- Mountain scape in background
- Cohesion between sky and mountains (same colour schemes
- Sense of fractionally surreal
- Golden wheat field: sense of growth, vitality, abundance or turbulent, unsettling
- Sense of mixed emotions: contrast between the cold sky and the warm golden wheat
4. Read the ekphrastic poem.
5. Annotate key language and structural feature. (see tab 3 'Techniques')
6. Compare initial impression with the poets impression. (see tab 2 'Grids')
Poet’s response to painting
a) Artistic conflict: how to capture the essence of nature through painting à van go struggles to do this to perfection
b) Physiological conflict: his inner turmoil stems from the conflict between his spiritual self (God’s word is deafening- restricting, overwhelming) and affinity with nature (green tongues sing)
c) Conflict in communicating with others à he can express complex emotions through art, but not to another person
The poem is a reaction to a painting where Hesketh holds prior knowledge of the artist- it is her attempt to apply her knowledge to the artwork
- Colours she notices Van Go’s painting style à applies paint, vehemence
- The poet adopts the voice of the artist to à articulate and understand van go’s inner turmoil and conflict
a) Artistic conflict: how to capture the essence of nature through painting à van go struggles to do this to perfection
- “O, torment of sun-yellow tormentil”: Flowers are seen as something peaceful and beautiful contrasted with the torment and pain. The sun is seen as something painful and tormenting
- “I’m twisted around like a flag pole”
b) Physiological conflict: his inner turmoil stems from the conflict between his spiritual self (God’s word is deafening- restricting, overwhelming) and affinity with nature (green tongues sing)
- “I am deafened by God’s word” paradox conflict between
- “Green tongues sing”
- “I paint myself out loud”
c) Conflict in communicating with others à he can express complex emotions through art, but not to another person
- “Colour is naked – underneath the skin” get the essence through art but cant get a women’s love. Idea that he can communicate to expose his inner self through art but cant tell himself how he feels
- “The wound that never heels bleeds on” – physiological torment
The poem is a reaction to a painting where Hesketh holds prior knowledge of the artist- it is her attempt to apply her knowledge to the artwork