van Gogh

• Style - The style of this painting is post impressionist this is seen in the thick, fast brush strokes in the foreground and background of the tree highlighting the natural texture of the tree and adding an expressive quality
• Style - The style of this this painting is post impressionist seen in the vibrant bright yellow quinces against the deep blue shadows creating contrast making the quinces the focal point.
• Subject Matter - The subject matter is bruised quinces at the foot of the tree making seem natural and less posed, like they've fallen.
• Subject Matter - The subject matter of the fresh and bruised quinces stacked at the bottom of the tree can represent aging - fresh is life, bruising can show the process of decaying which has associations of death.
• Scale - Van Gogh works on a small scale 49x59 cm this allows him to keep the quinces in proportion, making them look realistic and the life like.
• Scale - The huge scale of the tree towers above the stacked quinces, highlighting the small scale of the quinces making them look true to size.
• Composition - Van Goghs use of contrasting hot and cold seen in the dark blue trees and the bright yellow quinces allows the quinces to stand out making them the focal point.
• Composition - Van Gogh uses tradition viewpoint looking straight on we can see this as the quinces are stacked up giving hight to them leading your eye up the painting to the tree
• Mood and Atmosphere - Van Goghs painting has a depressing atmosphere due to the bruised quinces the dark bruised skin makes them look unappetising as though they are decaying
• Mood and Atmosphere - Van Goghs painting creates a sad/ sombre atmosphere seen in the dark overpowering blues used in the background, creating the feeling of coldness and solitude.
• Media and techniques - Van Gogh uses oil painting in an impasto technique when pain is applied thickly with visible brushstrokes creating high texture emphasising the rough texture of the tree in the background
• Media and techniques - Using impasto technique where paint is laid on thickly and in the rounded form of the fruit enhances and gives the quinces an almost 3D effect
• Line - The thick leading brushstrokes in the foreground lead your eyes up to the quinces in the midground highlighting they are the focal point
• Line - The use of curved smooth lines on the quinces makes the fruit look realistic and formed giving it a 3d effect
• Shape - Van Gogh use of organic overlapping shapes in the quinces which helps move you eye around forcing the viewer to look at the whole painting or giving it a natural realistic look due to the varying shape
• Shape - The long thin shape of the stocks in the centre quinces leads your eye from the background the vertical standing quinces make it stand out
• Colour - The use of the deep dark blues in the entirety of the back and foreground creates an overwhelming feeling of coldness and solitude
• Colour - The use of dull colours in the background contrasts with the bright colours making the quinces stand out forcing attention on the fruit.
• Tone - Van Gogh used dark tones to show the shadows underneath the quinces and white highlights where the light hits them this makes the quinces look 3d
• Tone - Concentrated light is coming from the right hand side and this highlights the vertical quinces highlighting this as the singular focal point
• Texture - Van Goghs use of impasto technique where paint is thickly applied with visual brushstrokes creating high texture emphasising the rough texture of the tree in the background or making the skin of the quinces look rough/ unappetising
• Texture - Use of impasto technique where paint is applied thickly creates an actual texture seen in the foreground creating visual interest and a sense of movement/ fluidity to the work
• Pattern - Vertical stripes in the background lead your eyes down to the quinces highlighting their importance
• Pattern - Visible irregular brushstrokes in the foreground produce a diagonal pattern creating a decorative effect
• Form - Van Gogh has used a wide variety of tones form Dark to Light on the stacked quinces creating the illusion of form making them look more organic
• Form - The flat form of the tree contrasts with the 3d from of the overlapped and stacked quinces highlighting their 3D form