Art + Survival

 Art and Self Preservation

Many art pieces in the world are being destroyed and as I write to you, I propose we save 3 distinct ones. Self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo, and President Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley are the artworks I have chosen to save, as they can be an asset to forming the memory of human self-expression, either by ourselves or from others and preserving the knowledge of human looks. These 3 portraits are from different time periods and by that, I mean centuries different. This could give people in the future an idea of how art about yourself has expanded throughout the years, as well as teach people how to channel their feelings about the different points in their lives that they are handling. In this proposal, I will explain why we should rescue these pieces of art.

Self-portrait was created by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh in 1887. It depicts him expressing the emotion of blank ambiguity. This was made with oil on a piece of artboard and was one of the many self-portraits that Van Gogh has made throughout his life. The technique he used was a staccato-like puncture with the oil paints, which was inspired by Georges Seraut’s pointillism technique,  and has warm tones for himself and cool, colorful green and blue tones for the background. This painting was during the time in Van Gogh’s life when he traveled and settled in Paris with his brother in 1886 and stayed there for the next two years. A reason we should keep this painting is because it shows how humans were able to keep images of themselves other than the newly acquired photography, which is something Van Gogh said himself that he particularly didn’t like. Another reason is that during this time, the Post-Impressionist movement was gaining popularity with major artists, including Van Gogh, that included bold colors and expressive techniques, where the latter is wanting to express their emotional and psychological responses to the world around them. This work is a part of Van Gogh’s response to moving to Paris and exploring their city and learning their bold art style from his usual dreary style in his hometown. 

Self-portrait with Thon Necklace and Hummingbird was made by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in 1940. It depicts her in front of a green, leafy background and very muted light blue skies, almost not there completely. At the top, there are butterflies and dragonflies that fly around her head. On her neck is a thorn necklace with a hummingbird hanging from it that pierces her skin and makes blood fall out with the artist looking not bothered, which is resembling how she is always in pain and is very used to it. On both sides of her, there are two animals, a black cat and a black monkey. This was made with oil on canvas with her painting technique being shading to the correct skin tone and giving the painting more depth, and is one of the 55 self-portraits the artist has made of herself. This was a time in her life when she was first divorced from her husband, artist Diego Rivera, and had also ended her affair with photographer, Nikolas Muray. A reason we should keep this painting is because it could show people how they can interpret their pain using painting or photography, dancing, etc. This portrait could help people who haven’t been able to have a good outlet for whatever caused their pain or trauma or bottled up hurt feelings turn those feelings into something good, while also healing them or better learning to release their negative feelings. Another reason we should keep this is that it could give an insight into what others are dealing with and people could look at the work and go, “Wow, I feel the same way.” or “I relate to this artist and they inspire me to make this artwork to also process what I have been through.” It gives people relatability and it makes them seem more human.

President Barack Obama was made by African-American artist Kehinde Wiley in 2018. It depicts the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, sitting in a wooden chair with his hands crossed, with the background overflowing with bright and bold leaves and flowers. He is also staring calmly and stoically forward into the viewer. Made with oil on canvas, the technique Wiley used was glazing and layering, which is something he has always used when making traditional oil paintings, while also using vibrant colors with high saturation. This portrait memorializes a time when for the first time in United States history a black man was elected president, which has never been done before. A reason we should keep this painting is because it shows a time in history when something good happened and showed hope for the future and this portrait should be kept as a reminder of how we got there in the first place. Another reason we should keep this painting is that this is another way for people to show their appreciation and their feelings on the subject, in this case, a black man becoming a high ranking honor, which has never been done or never been allowed shown in history, through bold and vivid colors and using objects that have a history with said person that makes them who they are today, like this portrait. This just goes to show how portraits can show what person they are and what their background is like using significant things that can allude to their memories.

With these three portraits, we can show future generations, who may never get to see any other artworks that show much more of the world, one of the ways humans have always expressed themselves when situations have arisen. Whether to try something new when you move to a new place like Van Gogh has done, or to process the trauma and pain that the person has experienced throughout their lifetime like Kahlo has shown, or to show the person’s backstory and key objects that make that person who they are prior to today like Wiley has demonstrated with Obama’s portrait. Humans have always done the art of self-preservation either through exercising, doing their skincare routine, talking with friends and family, etc., but art seems to always have been the main focal use of expressing oneself and what they feel in the moment using any technique, color combinations, or storytelling they learned from previous art. This will certainly help us teach them how to channel that for themselves. 

Works Cited

“Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portraits.” Art UK. Accessed November 19, 2023. https://artuk.org/discover/stories/vincent-van-goghs-self-portraits. 

“Self-Portrait.” The Art Institute of Chicago, 1AD. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/80607/self-portrait. 

Content, Isabella Meyer( Head of. “Van Gogh Self-Portrait - Some of Van Gogh’s Most Famous Self-Portraits.” Art in Context, August 1, 2023. https://artincontext.org/van-gogh-self-portrait/. 

“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo.” Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo: Harry Ransom Center. Accessed November 19, 2023. https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/frida-kahlo-self-portrait/. 

“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940.” Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940, By Frida Kahlo. Accessed November 19, 2023. https://www.fridakahlo.org/self-portrait-with-thorn-necklace-and-hummingbird.jsp. 

Maevescully. “The Importance of Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.” Artsper Magazine, July 1, 2022. https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/the-importance-of-frida-kahlos-self-portrait-with-thorn-necklace-and-hummingbird/#:~:text=No%20other%20sentence%20Kahlo%20is,affair%20with%20photographer%20Nickolas%20Muray. 

SisumD. “Barack Obama.” National Portrait Gallery, September 12, 2019. https://npg.si.edu/learn/classroom-resource/barack-obama.

“Reimagining Classical Art: Kehinde Wiley.” MyArtBroker. Accessed November 19, 2023. https://www.myartbroker.com/collecting/articles/Reimagining-classical-art-kehinde-wiley.