15 April 1452, and 30 March 1853, were very important days of the art history. Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh have become known as one of the art world’s most tragic figures. They were famous in their own lifetime and have remained famous ever since. However, they lived in different periods, had different painting styles, and different personalities. Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh seemed totally opposite.
One obvious difference is in the historical backgrounds. Leonardo da Vinci was born in Florence in 1452. Florence in the 15th century was outstanding in almost every cultural field. At the time, Florence was not dominated by any particular social group. In general, learning in Florence was essentially practical. Boys were educated for a specific career in schools and universities. At the time, there were dramatic changes in the arts of the early Renaissance in Florence. There were growth of humanism and the revival of classical antiquity. Artists believed they had rediscovered the principles of classical art and architecture. Painting was rather different because no classical paintings existed. Painters strove a realistic image of the world. They were men of powerful personality, high intelligence and self-confidence. However, Leonardo rejected the decorative, formal style of late Gothic. He found confirmation of their fundamental desire to portray the human figure and the physical universe with the realism, wherease Vincent was born in Netherland in 1853. His father was a protestant pastor. At the time, Western Europe in the 19 century changed everying. The art of painting dramatically changed, of course.
Other areas of difference between Leonardo and Vincent were their painting styles. Leonardo lived in a high Renaissance period. The High Renaissance was the culmination of the artistic developments of the early renaissance and one of the great explosions of creative genius in history. It is notable for three of the greatest artists in history: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael Sanzio, and Leonardo da Vinci. Also active at this time were such masters as Giorgione, Titian, and Giovanni Bellini. By about the 1520s, High Renaissance art had become exaggerated into the style known as mannerism. However, Vincent was a post- impressionist.
Post-Impressionism is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of artists who were influenced by impressionism, but took their art in other directions. There is no single well-defined style of Post-Impressionism, but in general it is less idyllic and more emotionally charged than Impressionist work. The classic Post-Impressionists were Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Henri Rousseau and Toulouse Lautrec, and Vincent Van Gogh was also generally included among the Post-Impressionists
Leonardo was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist. Also, he studied the human body and its anatomy in depth. The versatility and creative power of Leonardo mark him as a supreme example of Renaissance genius. He depicted in his drawings, with scientific precision and consummate artistry, subjects ranging from flying machines to caricatures; he also executed intricate anatomical studies of people, animals, and plants. The richness and originality of intellect expressed in his notebooks reveal one of the greatest minds of all time. He could be considered the greatest humanist of all the times. Vincent was a sensitive and artistic person. He has closed a friendship with his brother Theo. He always had financial problems. He had help from his younger brother, Theo. He suffered from mental illness since childhood. A famous about Vincent is that anecdote he became mad, and he cut off one of his ears. At times, he lived with Paul Gauguin in Ales the Netherlands after the accident, Paul left Vincent. During his lifetime, he had an intensity and passion about painting. However, his mental illness recovered only temporarily. He painted again because he controlled his mental problem. During his last days, he painted a plethora of great paintings. Vincent shot himself on July 27, 1890. It took two days for him to die, at the age of only thirty-seven years old.
In spite of these differences, these two apparently contributed to several artists in similar fashion. Both painters have famous paintings. Art scholars and historians have suggested that Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” and Van Gogh’s “sunflower” series are amongst the most recognized works of the artists and the primary reason for their international success. The “Mona Lisa” was produced in Florence between 1503 and 1507 by Leonardo. It is certainly the most famous painting in the world. As a journalist describes, “Mona Lisa is the one truly universal megastar of art.” Also, the most renewed “sunflower” paintings are produced in Arles between 1888 and 1889 by Vincent. Nowadays, “Mona Lisa” is exhibited in the Museum of Louvre in Paris, and the “sunflowers” series are displayed in permanent in exhibits Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
A final similarity is that both Van Gogh and Leonardo have affected other artists. They were intelligent, articulate men. Leonardo’s “Last Supper” (1495-97) and “Mona Lisa” (1503-06) are among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of his time. Although Vincent was little recognized in his life time, his style appears strongly influenced by impressionism-a strong sense of natural light merging the colors together and blurring edges. When he worked the brushstrokes were heavy, leaving the canvases encrusted with a richly tactile layer of paint, the edges of shadows and objects blurred, the viewer an instinct impression of looking at scene in full sunlight. His work can also be brightly and sharply defined in bold primary colors. In this letter style, he used fine, unbroken lines, and thinner paints. Both styles widly influenced impressionism. He did not embark upon a career as an artist until 1880. Initially he only worked with somber colors, until an encounter in Paris with Impressionism and Neo-impressionism, whose brighter colors and style of painting he developed into a uniquely recognizable style, which was fully developed during time spent at Arles, France.
Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh were different, yet alike. Although the two famous painters differ in many areas such as period, painting styles, and personalities, they have influenced other artists. They had passion about painting. They have been famous painters ever since.
