I decided to return to this blog after a conversation I had with a friend last week. We were chatting about art and he told me about the hidden imagery in Van Gogh's paintings. Van Gogh's one of those painters that I never really got into - everyone seemed to know lots about him, so I reckoned I never really needed to. Which means that it's more than likely I'm the last person to know about this subject. But I thought I'd write about it anyway.
It turns out that (apparently) Van Gogh hid number of images in his paintings and sketches. They tend to be religious symbols - his father was a Calvinist Minister, so there are lots of references to lambs, snakes, Marys, Eves etc. For example, this could well be a lamb's head in the Japanese Cherry Tree:
and perhaps there are two small animals peeking out of this Pair of Shoes:
And it's not just images. It's suggested that he also spelt things, like in this portrait of Dr Gachet:
Van Gogh wasn't too keen on some of the Dr's medical practices, so he painted him with a foxglove - a plant that produces a medicine that, when in the wrong hands, can be highly poisonous. Hence the words Judgement Day written down his right arm.
Of course, it's also very possible that this is all nonsense, but it does seem like his brush strokes take on a life of their own, like no other artist's.
So the next time that I come across a Van Gogh, I'll be paying much closer attention to exactly what's in front of me. (Or what might be.)
