“Van Gogh’s Chair” by Vincent van Gogh

“The real world seems to stop at the museum or gallery entrance” is the quote that stood out to me the most when reading “Arranging Things” by Leonard Koren. All arrangements are communicational through visual means, but its interpretation in the real world remains separate and distinct from the viewpoints in the art world. After reading this article, “Van Gogh’s Chair” passed my mind because of its apparent worldly understandings but complicated and perhaps unknown artistic meanings. In the real world of arrangements, the work is a still-life painting of a chair with a tobacco pouch and a pipe sitting on top. However, in the art world of arrangements, the empty chair could be seen as hollowness and loneliness that resides in the painter with tobacco pouch and pipe representing his transient days without the support from his friend Gauguin. There are multiple ways of viewing his work of arrangement in the art world that remains open and unclear.

Resources:

https://medium.com/thinksheet/how-to-read-paintings-chair-by-vincent-van-gogh-9337eda1312b

https://www.vincentvangogh.org/van-goghs-chair.jsp#prettyPhoto