Van Gogh’s Rain

I know the rain is dreary, especially when our moods are pulled by pandemic, isolation, news. But the rain has rinsed the pollen from the air, and for that I am thankful.

In class on Tuesday, Fran O’Neill shared a few of her favorite landscape paintings. She showed the Van Gogh above, one I haven’t seen before. How could I not have seen this?? It’s instantly one of my favorites.

In these, Van Gogh has a way of describing rain in a way that creates mood, movement, and atmosphere, darkening the sky and slicing through the space. The angled lines are direct and descriptive. I relate Van Gogh’s depiction of rain with these straight diagonal lines to the rain in Ukiyo-e and Hiroshige’s prints. You can see Van Gogh’s copy of a Hiroshige below.

For a creative challenge today: depict rain in a scene with a repetition of parallel and crisp diagonal lines. The lines can be all coming in a single angle, or in two or more angles, to suggest wind. Give it a scribble and post to social media with #seattleartistleague #rain.

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Viewing things on the internet, sometimes I don’t know which photograph is more accurate for color….

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I’ve posted about rain before in V. Notes. Here are three:

Hiroshige’s Rain

Hiroshige’s Rainy Moments

Rainy Moments in Art