Philosophy of Art Van Gogh Painting

Art is something that can cause difference of opinion, controversy, and many other contemporary issues. Art can also been viewed in many different mediums; such as music, paintings, the written word whether that be prose or poetry, photography as well as many more forms. I will be discussing the famous painter of Van Gogh and a painting that he described as ugly.

Van Gogh described this painting as “…one of the ugliest I have done…” He then stated that he tried to show the fervor of the human race describing various colors when visualized would not be appealing together. He also regarded the room he painted as “blood red and dark yellow” which gives another negative attribute to the painting. The lamps that Van Gogh describes are not bright and vibrant but they are dark, dull and give off “a glow of orange and green.” The statement ends with Van Gogh saying “there is a clash and contrast of the most disparate reds greens…”

Van Gogh described this painting in a very negative way but the way he described it does not mean we have to agree with him. Each person is entitled to their own opinion and when it comes to art, opinions can vary to the moon and back. For example, one person can look at Van Gough’s painting and dislike only certain parts of it, such as the placement of the billiard table or the shades of red used to paint the room. Van Gogh may be very displeased with his piece of work but the people that appreciate his work may think of it as just another great piece of fine art to look at.

Because Van Gogh stated that he did not appreciate his piece of art as much as his other works, I do not believe that spectators should not look at the work with any less value than his other pieces. Viewers should look at his art with the same value, but each piece of art should be appreciated and judged differently from one another.

I think each piece of art is given an aesthetic value by three people: the artist, the critic and the average man or woman. The artist will be more critical of his or her own work because when a person creates something he or she is always more critical of it than others. The critic generally has a good knowledge and intelligence of art and the art world and is able to make a solid judgment on how to value a piece of work and the critic is also able to analyze a painting to asses its worth. The average man or woman, usually, can look at art and make a comparison to the other works of art the artist create. Based off of that comparison, the average man or woman will make an anesthetic judgment on whether the art is valuable or not.

The way an artist later describes a painting should not reflect how the painting is perceived. A painting should be looked at by itself without any disclosures by the artists or any critics. Art should be able to speak for itself and should be able to portray a story or a message or convey some kind of meaning to the viewer without any added explanation outside of the painting.

Van Gogh described the painting to try to “express the power of darkness” after the painting was created. This description, as I stated before, should not effect how the viewer of the art perceives it. Art, I believe, is created for the viewer to interpret his or her own story from the art unless the art directly states a story or a meaning.

Kant was interested how the viewer felt privately about a particular piece of art. He thought that someone viewing a piece of art should not call the art beautiful because he or she likes the art. Kant said that the viewer needs some type of beauty judgments from others but those judgments do not have to be agreeable judgments.

Kant stated that a person should look at a painting with more than just one sense. “This applies not only to the taste of the tongue, the palate, and the throat, but to what may with any one be agreeable to the eye or ear. A violet color is to one soft and lovely: to another dull and faded.” In reference to Van Gogh’s painting, Kant would say that each person is entitled to their own opinion of the painting. One person may like the picture but liking the picture does not make the picture beautiful. Another person may dislike the picture but may find the picture beautiful. As Kant stated, “With the agreeable, therefore, the axiom holds good: Every one has his own taste (that of sense).

Kant stated that for a painting to be beautiful, it can not only be aesthetically pleasing to one man, but when the art is put on a pedestal, it is found beautiful by others. The beauty must be spoken of the painting as a property of the painting.

Sibley discusses in his essay the remarks that viewers make about art and within these remarks, Sibley breaks down two broad groups that make up these remarks. Sibley points out that a work of art can have a large number