Many works of art is created without an inspiration by another artist.  Artists at the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles is a perfect example as many works of arts displayed at this place depicts the obvious influences of van Gogh’s work.  When one holds up a painting of brightly colored brushstrokes painted in unique set of lines, viewers can easily guess the work was done by Van Gogh’s or by an artist who was inspired by van Gogh.  For instance, David Hockney, a painter from England, was obviously influenced by van Gogh as he used bright color paints and tried to imitate the brushstrokes of van Gogh.  Plus, without any doubts, Vincent’s Chair was his influence.

While some artists like Hockney made very obvious imitations of Van Gogh’s work, some others were far different from van Gogh’s work but still incorporated some of his artistic characteristics.  For example, Oliver Debre from France, painted a peculiar image of yellows with hues of blacks, browns, grays, and greens looking like as if the brushstrokes are dripping down the canvas.  While it looks like as if no one can assume that his piece of work was inspired by van Gogh, there were still many references according to his artist statement.  He stated:

“I have been fascinated by van Gogh both as a human being and master for many years.

His sense of colour and shape is very contemporary and present in modern painting.

He exploited colour with such force that I went to the same source, choosing yellow to evoke it.

I have painted these irises as a wreath of flowers to offer him.”

Overall, my art history course, French Modernism, enjoyed the visit to the museum to understand how we can use artists from French Modernism period as our source of inspirations.