Analyzing Art For this module assignment I chose to do my paper on "Vincent van Gogh, Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves, 1889". I chose this painting because I am rather familiar with it. In elementary school my teacher had us try to draw a painting by Van Gogh and this is the one I chose (didn't come out too pretty). My grandmother also has a imitation of the painting in her dining room. Today, Vincent van Gogh is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters and an important contributor to the foundations of modern art. The completion date of this post-impressionism still life, was in the year of 1889. The place of creation was Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Vincent van Gogh painted this picture soon after his release from the hospital, where he was recovering from the disastrous final days of Paul Gauguin’s stay with him in Arles. In a long letter to his brother Theo posted January 23, 1889, he mentions creating this painting alongside several other issues, including the need to make money through picture sales. He likely had the market in mind in painting this still life. Van Gogh was clearly attracted to the shapes and hues of the citrus fruit arrayed in the wicker basket, and the way their varied orb shapes play against the weave of the dried sticks, the whole set off by the prickly needles of the cypress branches. Van Gogh refers in his letter to an “air of chic” in this picture, prompted perhaps by the inclusion of blue garden gloves. The painting reveals the artist’s extraordinarily original sense of color, as well as his richly expressive paint application as he struggles to evoke the nubby waxen skin of the various fruits, the spiky fur of the branches, and the limp material of the worn gloves (National Gallery of Art, 2014). With its reference to pruning and fruit gathering, the painting was likely a particular favorite of Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, who with her husband Paul Mellon bought the picture in 1962. Bunny Mellon was an ardent horticulturalist, landscape designer, and collector of rare garden books. Although her husband gave the painting to the National Gallery of Art in 1999, she lived with the picture hanging in her home until her own death in March 2014 (National Gallery of Art, 2014).
I am personally not a huge fan of art and don't usually understand it. When I look at this painting I see exactly what it is, a still painting of orange, lemons, and blue gloves. I think still life painting are rather interesting though because it's an artist looking at an object, and creating the vision on a canvas. It is true talent and something many people can't do.

References
National Gallery of Art. (2014). Recent Acquisitions. Retrieved August 9, 2014, from http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/recent_acquisitions.html