My Favorite Painting

Art is one of the most important elements of human life. In this regard, there are many artists in the past who have created pieces of art that still remains in the memories of many people even to the present day. Among these pieces of art include a Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent van Gogh. To begin with, this picture was painted way back in January 1889 by Vincent van Gogh while recovering from a self inflicted injury by cutting off his earlobe after an argument with a fellow painter whom he adored.

It is important to note that this portrait of Vincent van Gogh portrays an unbearable pitiful presence that revealed his empty life (Jones 2000). In essence, this portrait was painted in such a way that Gogh was able to show forth his bandaged ear. In addition to this, the portrait has disgusted feeling, weighing down his feelings in such a way that none could mistake that the owner of the portrait must have been an unhappy man. Similarly, he used dull color that was able to accompany his pitiful feelings. Notably, the colors that were used to paint this portrait came from the background of this picture.

In summation, one of the most important issues about this picture is its influence on modern art. It is important to note that there are many artist of the 20^th century that were motivated or rather influenced to inflict injuring on themselves in the same way Gogh had done, especially after his body was turned into art material in the 1970s (Jones 2000). Among them is Vito Acconci who bit himself in as many places as possible on his body while squatting in 1970. Others include Chris Burden, who made a friend to shoot him in the arm and later had himself crucified in 1971 and Catherine Opie who carved a picture of a lesbian couple in her flesh using a razor in 1993 (Jones 2000). Therefore, whereas this portrait of Gogh is more than a century old, it has a lot of influence on modern art. This is what makes it a favorite painting.