Color and Emotion in Van Gogh’s Work

“My pictures are…a cry of anguish…”  ~ Van Gogh

Van Gogh felt a strong attraction to the components of color. He wrote a great deal about color theory and its relationship to an individual’s emotional state. His emotional torment was expressed through his forms, his use of perspective and his color dynamics. He believed that the elements of color could best express the subjective experience. Like emotions, colors vary in intensity and tone. Like emotions, colors can blend and merge. As his psychological life deteriorated, his use of color reflected those emotional changes.

“ I want to paint what I feel and feel what I paint” ~ Van Gogh.

PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS:

Bekker, K. (2013) Van Gogh’s Language of Color”. Analyses of Cultural Productions: Papers of the 30th Conference of PsyArt, Porto2013.

Bekker, K. (2013)  “Van Gogh: Color and Emotion”. Presentation conducted at the 30th International PsyArt Conference, Porto, Portugal.

Bekker, K. (2012) “Van Gogh’s use of color”. Presentation, Creativity and Madness Conference, Boston

Bekker, K. (2012). “Color and Emotion in Van Gogh’s Art.” Presentation, New York State Psychological Association, Saratoga, NY.

Bekker, K. & Bekker, A.Y (2009). “Color and Emotion in Van Gogh’s Art: a psychophysical Analysis of Van Gogh’s Work.” PsyArt: a Hyperlink Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts.