Art and Culture : Irises
🎨Van Gogh was known for his thick application of paint on canvas, called impasto. An Italian word for “paste” or “mixture”, impasto is used to describe a painting technique where paint (usually oil) is laid on so thickly that the texture of brush strokes or palette knife are clearly visible.
🎨In 1889, after entering an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France, Van Gogh began painting Irises, working from the plants and flowers he found in the asylum's garden.
🎨Critics believe the painting was influenced by Japanese woodblock prints.
🎨French critic Octave Mirbeau, the painting's first owner and an early supporter of Van Gogh, remarked, "How well he has understood the exquisite nature of flowers!"