Appreciation to Portrait of Doctor Gachet

In this painting, the peaceful figure’s posture and skinny body were supported by arms to maintain a perfect balance. However, through the strokes of characters, the composition as well as the space around, the nervous and sad mood of the painter could be seen with half an eye. It indicated that the artist would feel more misery.

The red table in the lower left appeared quite abrupt in the deep blue picture. The melancholy reflection expression of doctor Gachet echoed with the blue tone in the painting. Van Gogh wrote in Theo's letter, “He lost his wife a few years ago. But he is a real doctor. His occupation and belief inspires him. We have become good friends......I am painting for him wearing a white cap with very light and bright colors and dressed in a blue coat. The background is cobalt blue and his body is leaning on a red table."

This diagram represented the basic picture of this portrait. The character was positioned obliquely along the diagonal, from the upper-left corner of the canvas to the lower right corner throughout the entire picture. The color configuration was perhaps the most important factor to convey deep feelings. The doctor's coat was blue and black mixed, and in some places the white canvas could be seen. The red desktop deepened the contrast of the picture. Perhaps Van Gogh found a natural solution for the portraits of women in the new era, but he did not solve men's inner conflicts. In a few portraits of Al’s men, men's facial expressions were obviously with suspicion and tension. In this painting, what the figure wanted to express was full of melancholy.

This middle-class doctor and modern art collector, like a hypochondriac, his facial expression was what Van Gogh called “sorrow-stricken expression”. But in the concept and composition, this painting could be said the companion of “Al’s women”. Gachet looked sad and sat there, facing two novels concerning women, art and sex—Goncourt's novel Magnet Salomon and Chamini Dorset.

The role of reporter in modern novels was changed into Doctor Gachet.