Introduction
Dr. Gachet’s portrait, drawn by his patient, Vincent van Gogh, is one of the most revered paintings among the Dutch. Gogh is one the patients who passed through the hands of Dr. Gachet. He made this painting as a form of appreciation to Dr. Gachet, who took care of his life during the final moments. Superficially, the painting depicts Dr. Gachet sitting at a table while leaning on his head. Nevertheless, the painting was made in an encaustic medium, meaning heat was applied during construction. The portrait measures 67cm by 56cm in size for most traditional paintings (Van Gogh par. 12). In addition to size, the drawing has expressionism art movements, which constitute flattened, extreme angles and flashy colors. The painter used the expressionism art movement to show their inner feelings and ideas about Dr. Gachet. These aspects of the piece allowed it to be auctioned at $82.5 million in 1990 (Mainwaring 1856). While Dr. Gachet’s portrait majorly represents the painter’s feelings, it is an integral piece of art that can be used to study painting techniques and meanings.
Brief Description
In the introduction mentioned above, the piece was made following Gogh’s inspiration from Dr. Gachet’s work. Before making the painting, Gogh had a mental illness, which most doctors could not diagnose. However, upon meeting Dr. Gachet, he was confirmed to have epilepsy which induced the seizures he constantly experienced (Bruś 57). After this diagnosis, Dr. Gachet recommended treatment to Gogh, whose positive effects were apparent to the patient. The improvements experienced by Gogh are the key drivers towards the making of Dr. Gachet’s painting (Bruś 57). In the portrait, Dr. Gachet rests on his right elbow on a red table. Additionally, Gogh blended yellow and purple colors to represent the medicine herb foxglove on the table. Moreover, Gogh has employed a distinctive technique in which lines of color swim through and around the doctor. The lines are almost uniformly directed toward the top left corner of the art.
Analysis
Gogh’s drawing of Dr. Gachet applies the impasto technique, which uses oil paint. In the impasto technique, the paint is thickly laid on the surface, making the knife or brush strokes apparent. Additionally, this technique allowed Gogh to mix the paintings on the canvas. When an impasto is dry, it offers textures since the paint appears to emanate from the canvas. Around the corners of the paint, it appears Gogh applied a mixture of oil and acrylic paints due to its thick consistency (Zeidler and Aleksandra 3). Generally, the impasto technique is evidenced by the thickness present in Dr. Gachet’s drawing.
Another technique manifested by Dr. Gachet’s painting entails the stripling method. This method involves creating lighting and shadows using dots. Many dots are applied for the darker portions, making them appear close together, while the dots are sparsely distributed for the lighter sections. The shadow of Dr. Gachet’s arm can be seen on the table through fine, dense dots (Bruś 57). This technique allowed Gogh to create texture and gradations in the green and purple colors used to indicate Dr. Gachet’s drugs (Barker et al. 345). Generally, the stripling painting strategy uses the number of dots to distinguish light and darkness.
Conclusion
Dr. Gachet’s painting represents the feelings that Gogh possessed following his treatment. Moreover, it is one of the most admired paintings by the Dutch. The esteem placed on this printing arises from Dr. Gachet’s role in people’s lives. This role included treating and curing individuals. Nevertheless, the painting was made in a professional way, including the application of impasto techniques. Other strategies employed in the art were the stripling technique that involved using the number of dots to differentiate darkness from light.
Works Cited
Barker, Kenneth L., et al., eds. NIV Study Bible. Zondervan, 2020.
Bruś, Teresa. “Sam Meekings, The After-Lives of Doctor Gachet.” European Journal of Life Writing vol. 8, no. 2, 2019, 55-59.
Mainwaring, Richard D., and Stephanie Mainwaring. “Doctor Gachet, in the Kitchen, with the foxglove.” Cardiology in the Young vol. 30, no. 12, 2020, 1856-1865.
Van Gogh, Vincent. Dr. Gachet Painting. Britannica ImageQuest, 1890.
Zeidler, Kamil, and Aleksandra Guss. “The Protection of Cultural Heritage vs. The Right to Private Property: The Extraordinary Case of the Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh.” Muzeologia a Kulturne Dedicstvo, vol. 9, no.4, 2021.