Vincent Van Gogh - Peasant of the Camarque

Vincent Van Gogh - Peasant of the Camarque (Patience Escalier)
August 1888 Reed pen and brown ink on white paper.


I fell in love with Vincent Van Gogh's work when I was fifteen years old. For me, he has always been one of the greatest of Artists. Whenever I look at an original drawing or painting of his, it takes my breath away. His work blazes with life and passion, showing us new ways to look at our world.

Vincent's wonderful portrait of Patience Escalier, is so much more than a preliminary drawing for the final paintings he did. It is a fully realized and complete piece of work in it's own right, radiating empathy and compassion for this man and his life. The absence of colour is more than compensated for by the rich variety of expressive, energetic marks, that describe the shapes and forms within this picture.

You can almost feel the texture of the sunburnt skin, and the underlying bone structure, particularly the prominent cheek bones. The deepset eyes have a compelling, penetrating gaze, that provide the main focal point for the viewer. You can't help but look at them.

Sitting on top of his head is a simply drawn straw hat bathed in bright sun light. For the background, Vincent has created a complex pattern of dots and lines that seem to dance in the air like particles of shimmering light. You can feel the intense heat.

The strong, angular, almost carved out outline, adds contrast and definition to the densely textured areas, emptier spaces and brilliant draughtsmanship. All of which creates a memorable and moving drawing.

The following excerpt is taken from a letter by Theo Van Gogh to his wife Jo, describing his brother Vincent.

'That head of his has been occupied with contemporary society's insoluble problems for so long, and he is still battling on with his good-heartedness and boundless
energy.His efforts have not been in vain, but he will probably not live to see them come to fruition, for by the time people understand what he is saying in his paintings it will be too late.He is one of the most advanced painters and it is difficult to understand him, even for me who knows him so intimately. His ideas cover so much ground, examining what is humane and how one should look at the world, that one must first free oneself from anything remotely linked to convention to
understand what he was trying to say, but I am sure he will be understood later on. It is just hard to say when'.

If you would like to know more about Vincent Van gogh,you can visit this excellent website dedicated to him at http://www.vggallery.com/ The website is the work of Author David Brooks and is a real labour of love.
*Many thanks to David for sending me the above high resolution image. Just click on the image to see more detail.

The Royal Academy in London have superb exhibition of Van Goghs paintings, drawings and letters on at the moment until 18th april 2010.