Portrait of Pope Tangi II by Vincent Van Gogh

Portrait of Pope Tangi II by Vincent Van Gogh

This is one of several portraits of Julien-Francois Tanguy, written by Van Gogh in 1887 in Paris. Tangi was the owner of an art shop and at the same time a patron of art who helped young artists. With Van Gogh, he was united by friendly relations.

This breast portrait is slightly different from the other portraits of Tanga’s father. It is written in a classical manner. Tangi is depicted in a suit on a dark background, his figure occupies most of the canvas. Van Gogh focused all his attention on Julien’s face, very clearly conveying his expressive look. Kindness and attentiveness are read in Tanga’s face. It seems that he is very worried about the result of work, posing for the artist.

The color scheme of the picture is based on a combination of dark brownish-yellow hues. The thick background sets the color to the whole canvas, its color changes to the hair and jacket of Tanga. The face is written with bright warm shades of yellow, ocher and red, only a few coldish lilac swabs are visible on the beard.

Van Gogh painted the picture very carefully, carefully modeling the volumes with thick shadows and paying attention to small details. Perhaps, in this attention was expressed the warm supportive attitude of the artist to Tanga’s father.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)