Wild Roses by Vincent Van Gogh Light Switch Cover

Wild Roses by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1890, is a small painting of a thick nestle of densely packed wild rose vines and flowers vignette against a flat back ground. With its stark, thick outlines, flattened, simplified forms and abstracted color scheme of greens, whites, pink and black, Wild Roses is an example of Van Gogh’s assimilation of the ideas of Post-Impressionism that greatly influenced the rising modern artists of the 20th century such as Matisse and the Fauve painters. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and intense, heightened colors. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh’s early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in somber earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to color and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.