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How Is The Life Story of Vincent Van Gogh Be Viewe

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15 views4 pages

How Is The Life Story of Vincent Van Gogh Be Viewe

Uploaded by

candy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1.

How is the life story of Vincent Van Gogh


Answer:

Before answering the question let me give you a short background


about who is Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent William Van Gough a famous Dutch
artist whose work often associated with Post-Impressionism and later
transformed in to Expressionism. Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most
important predecessors of modern painting. He created a great number of
masterpiece paintings and drawings in just one decade devoted to art.Since
his childhood Van Gogh had an immense passion for art. Van Gogh was an
outstanding mostly self taught artist whose famous works include: his most
famous Starry Night, Cafe Terrace at Night, Terrasse, Houses at Auvers,
Restaurant De La Sirene At Asnieres, Sunflowers, Irises, and several self-
portraits, amongst others.

As I have watched in the video Vincent Van Gogh artworks at the


beginning of his journey was full of colors and vibrance. It is full of life and it is
so radiant, as what he calls it “Sunny Pictures”. You can feel and see that he
finally found his happiness at last thus his paintings are giving him a great
pleasure. However, at as time goes by and yet he still feels quite empty and
sad for no reason. He cannot also distinguish why he was like that even
though he finally found his happiness and that was through painting, not to
mention that his artworks were giving him a great feeling of pleasure that
suffice his emptiness and hole inside, his feeling of being lost in nowhere has
finally found his path and currently on his way but there was something
hindering him from reaching his ultimate happiness and that was something to
be frustrated about. The feeling of you do not know what was happening
inside of you. It is a battle within yourself that you cannot explain why.

Van Gogh used color for its “symbolic and expressive values” rather than
to reproduce light and literal surroundings. Van Gogh’s emotional state highly
affected his artistic work and it deeply analyses his unconscious mind.

Now, going back in the question. I can view and analyze the life story of
Vincent Van Gogh through the combination of Sigmund Freud
Psychodynamic Approach in understanding personality and Karen Horney’s
Role of unconscious. As I can see they have similarities that I can use to
explain Van Gogh’s life story in psychological perspective. First is Freud
founded Psychodynamic approach to understanding personality believed that
behaviors are predetermined by motivations, either through consciously or
unconsciously. It is also stated that most of the time we do not know and
understand why we do what we do. I can prove my stand in the part where
Van Gogh cut his right ear but don’t quite understand why he did it. See? Well
I fully understand why he came from because he was in a devastating state
after he had a fight with his friend Paul but the thing that I cannot understand
is why does he have to cut his ear right? I mean yes he was mad and got
frustrated with his friend’s point that he was a better artist than Van Gogh but
why does he has to go that far of cutting his own ear right? This is the part
that anyone can say that there is something wrong with him. Also, this
behavior of him which is the action of cutting his ear can be considered as
self-harming. This commonly occurs because a person thought that through
cutting something he/she is actually coping in his/her situation. Self-harm can
be a way for a person to feel something when experiencing numbness or to
distract themselves from depression or anxiety. Next one is Karen Horney’s
role of unconscious. As what we can see in Van Gogh timeline he first worked
in an art gallery,then he became a teacher in boarding school in England, next
he became a preacher before becoming a painter. See the common
denominator of all his previous jobs? Yes! It is being socially inclined, it
means he is involving himself towards others. He is interacting with other
people. And as said by Karen Horney it is the first coping style which is
moving towards people. Second type of coping is moving against people also
called as Aggression type of coping. In Van Gogh’s life he lacks in this type of
coping. That is why he got so disappointed and frustrated not just to his friend
Paul but also for himself because he cannot argue and fight what he wants
because in the first place he doesn’t really know what he wants all he knew
was he cannot stop anymore. Thus here in Karen Horney’s second type of
coping includes a greater sense of control and achievement which Van
Gogh’s does not possess. The third and last type of coping of Horney is
moving away from people. This happened in the last part of the video when
Van Gogh detached himself from the people who believes in him and the
worst and saddening part was he does not only detached or isolate himself
but he totally close the link or bridge that links him to other people by
committing suicide and ending his own precious life where he can hopefully
created more significant artwork that will be well known, will give happiness,
inspiration, and hope to other people nowadays.

Both Horney and Freud took importance of unconscious. Being this said
they also both have an idea that mind is divided into three components the id,
ego and super ego which is essential in shaping the personality of an
individuals as early as in their childhood. Thus, they both incorporated the
Dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanism when an individual is facing a
struggle.

Van Gogh's painting not only reflected his struggles but also enabled him,
for a time, to stave off the hopelessness and despair that eventually
overwhelmed him, culminating in his suicide. Despite his turbulent
life Van Gogh remains as one of Europe's greatest artists.

2. Knowing yourself, if you have friend just like Vincent Van Gogh
what kind of help you could offer to him?
Answer:

There are situations in human life that we need to be tested in order for us
to keep moving forward and learn from it and take those as our motivations in
life. However, there are times that we need to give up and give ourselves a
space to breathe. We all go through tough times and people help us through
them. Other times we have been worried about other people’s mental health.
Whether they are a friend, family member or colleague, there are many ways
to support somebody you care about.

Sometimes it will seem obvious when someone is going through a hard


time, but there is no simple way of knowing if they have a mental health
problem. There are some people that are so good at concealing what they
really felt inside of themselves. You can see them smiling but who knows
what they are currently undergoing in their own pace right? There are person
that hides thousands feelings behind the happiest smile. Don’t let it fool us,
we should look at their eyes to see the their real situation. Sometimes you
don’t need to know. It’s more important to respond sensitively to someone
who seems troubled than to find out whether or not they have a diagnosis.

Knowing myself, If I have a friend like Van Gogh who underwent so many
things and has a mental health problem the first thing that I can offer him/her
is to talk to him/her. It is commonly the first step to take when to know they
are going through a hard time. In this way I can find out what is troubling them
and what I can do to help. Second initiative would be to set time aside with no
distractions. It is important to provide an open and non-judgemental space
with no distractions. Because this is the time where I can listen and they can
share their their situations with me without being bothered of the surrounding
that someone might interfere with us and eventually forgot what they are
trying to say. Third is Let them share as much or as little as they want to. Let
them lead the discussion don’t just gradually insert your feelings in the
conversation. I should learn when to listen and when must I give my
comments and suggestions. I should not put pressure on them to tell me
anything they aren’t ready to talk about. Talking can take a lot of trust and
courage. Because who knows I might be the first person they have been able
to talk to about this. Next is I will lend them my ears to listen carefully of what
they will tell me. In listening most specially with regards with this kind of
sensitive matters, it is important for me to repeat what they have said to
assure them that I have fully understood what they are trying to say. Thus it is
not necessary to always agree with them, but by showing that I understand
how they feel, I am also letting them know that I respect their feelings. The
next is the most important and essential help that I can offer my friend and
that is to Offer them help in seeking professional support and provide
information on ways to do this. As their friend with the same age and
capabilities, I admit that I still don’t have the right to give them advice on how
to fix and deal with things. Of course the only thing that I can provide them is
on how to direct their direction in the right path where professionals are. My
purpose is only to guide them, as their support system and not to fully resolve
their problem because it is the job of the professionals. I will offer them my
assistance to go the general practitioners with them, or help them talk to a
friend or family member. I will not try to take control and allow them to make
decisions by themselves for it may only worsen the current situation. The last
one is I should know my limitations, I should know where my boundaries are
and where I should not stick my nose into. If I believe they are in immediate
danger or they have injuries that need medical attention, I need to take action
to make sure they are safe. Yes other people dealing with mental health
issues tend to harm themselves with the idea that it can reduce the pain they
are currently in.

What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor or a quality of


being open and honest, and more unashamed conversation with other people.
It is important that we all speak up on our mental health for it is the key for us
being a better version of ourselves and for our individuality’s betterment.

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