A Vision of Color and Sadness

Unlike the descriptions for some of Van Gogh’s more famous works, the placard next to Boerderij (Farmhouse, 1890) at the Van Gogh Museum reveals little information about the piece. But given that Van Gogh produced the painting just a few months before his suicide in 1890, the viewer has an interesting context that frames the way he/she views the work. Painted primarily in shades of green with hints of white, black, brown, and blue, Boerderij depicts two people who are tending to sheep in front of a farmhouse. This idyllic and natural scene dominates much of the artist’s later works, and in this particular painting, highlights the interesting ways that Van Gogh viewed the relationship between man and nature.

            Van Gogh’s use of color depicts nature as possessing a desirable vivacity and interconnectedness. The most striking aspect of Boerderij is the bright green that dominates the canvas. Yellow undertones give the green a vividness that transforms the color from one that can be overly soporific to a shade that is tranquil yet energizing. Looking at the painting, one imagines that the scene takes place in the midst of Nature’s spring rebirth. Just as Van Gogh uses a similar shade of green for leaves as he does for grass, a reflective technique that connects these natural objects to one another, Van Gogh repeats shades of blue throughout the painting. Mirroring the light blue and white swirls of the clouds, Van Gogh uses blue paint to outline the sheep in the foreground so that the creatures resemble clouds in the sky. However, colors not only reoccur in “natural” parts of the painting, but also appear in more anthropocentric aspects of the work. The roof of the farmhouse is a sunny green, and the predominately white body of the building has a few strokes of green and blue. One of the figures is also wearing a blue dress. Van Gogh’s repetition of color not only suggests that all facets of the natural world are connected with each other, but he also implies that humans might belong in a greater web as well.

            Fluid and extended lines also blur the boundaries between the natural world and a manmade one. Most noticeably, Van Gogh traces the farmhouse in flowing black lines. As a result, the lack of sharp angles in the architecture gives the farmhouse a less manmade, less manufactured quality, and the building looks like something one might find naturally in nature. Extended lines also distort the distinction between man and nature. Fluid black lines form the trunks and branches of small trees lined in front of the building. Interestingly, the tree trunks do not always connect to the ground, and the tree branches extend unnaturally long. Such use of lines gives the impression that the trees are floating off the ground and extending their branches into the farmhouse, blending nature and man.

            While Van Gogh’s use of color and lines suggest that the boundaries between man and nature overlap, Boerderij recognizes that man and nature can never be one and the same. This realization injects a tinge of sadness and longing into the painting. Although the majority of the farmhouse consists of the same green, blue, and white hues present in the natural landscape, a few harsh strokes of black  mar the image of a farmhouse that blends in perfectly with nature. The blackened windows of the house give an eerie vibe of someone, perhaps the artist himself, looking outside and realizing that he can never fully belong in the happy, lively world of nature. The blackened figure near the door of the farmhouse also functions as a despondent contrast to the lively blue figure that is tending to the sheep in the foreground. Looking closely at the picture, one realizes that the two figures appear to be the same hunched individual. It is as if the black figure near the house is gazing forlornly at a vision of herself in blue. In her vision, she is a part of nature as she works the fields and tends to the sheep. But, alas, the black figure sticks close to the farmhouse, afraid to wander from her manmade structure into a world that is full of color and vibrancy, a world into which she can never belong.

            What immediately caught my attention as an uplifting portrait of life on a farm became, upon closer inspection, an image of sadness and longing. Most visitors at the Van Gogh Museum glanced at Boerderij for a brief second, made a noise of approval, and moved on to other works. For me, the impact of despondency and loneliness hits most strongly when one stands in front of the image for a few minutes and realizes that, beneath the vivid colors and fluid lines, there is a permanent, albeit tiny, hint of blackness. That blackness, Van Gogh seems to say, is Man.