Art Works > Tribute to Vincent van Gogh series. Gleason.2012.

This study is a response to a small portrait by Vincent from the period in Holland when he painted his early masterpiece The Potato Eaters. I have tried to show in the drawing the fine balance between control and its opposite. Obviously if we have unbridled emotions only,the balance in a work can be lost. But then again, I think a work without an element of passion can seem cold and remote. In later life Vincent had a constant battle with his illness,but in the work itself that fine emotional balance seems to have been struck.The girl in Vincent's painting has almost been worn out by daily hard labour, but still has great dignity.
I have tried to show her with her dream of being dressed up for a night out.