Muddy Color Palette
During the 1880’s Vincent was staying at the Hague, and this is where he was learning to paint and to use oil as a medium. This gives me the perfect timeframe since he was learning to paint and was still developing his style. This gave me incentive since it would be seen as a rare painting in the art world.
Early Vincent Van Gogh Paintings
I greatly admired the use of complementary colors that reinforce one another, creating a grey-brown tone. This was often associated with “earthy tones” and “mud tones.”
Translation
On August 5, 1882, Vincent had sent a letter to his brother Theo describing what colors he was using in his paintings.
This furthers my knowledge of the paints he was using and the scientific investigations that include carbon dating. I found an auction house that was selling oil paints from the 1880s in the Netherlands, which ensures that whatever was being used in the Netherlands has the proper amount of carbon to pass testing.
Van Gogh Letters 253. 253 (254, 222): To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 5 August 1882. – Vincent van Gogh Letters. (1990). https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let253/letter.html
Orphan Man, 1882, Oil on Canvas
Using multiple techniques of impasto, careful consideration of mark making, and consciousness of color, I started creating little studies of various Van Gogh portraits to prepare myself for his notable distinctions when creating a Van Gogh portrait. My provenance was in place, and I was preparing to send the painting to the library in Germany. Everything was coming to life, and before my eyes, I had created a fake of a Van Gogh painting.
