Pipe Portraits: What do They Mean?

[Sobrbiker]

No fan of paintings myself, it popped up during a random Google search. It said Frederick William Elwell.

I’d assumed Van Gogh (I’m no art geek myself), hence the “balance” comment

 

[ziv]

I’d assumed Van Gogh (I’m no art geek myself), hence the “balance” comment

Van Gogh is the first one (auto portrait). I thought the question was about the 2nd picture.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Van Gogh is the first one (auto portrait). I thought the question was about the 2nd picture.

Gotcha, I feel somehow delightfully vindicated!

 

[Briarcutter]

Obviously prior to 1888.

 

[judcole]

For the record, I was being sarcastic!

I was referring to the whole discussion. Dollars to donuts, Van Gogh did not think deep thoughts about smoking a pipe while he painted.

 

[anotherbob]

Portraits always try to say more about the subject then just what they look like. People often have some type of status indicator in their portraits. I say indicator because symbol tends to mean money or power. Where as a portrait might just show some interest the person has. There is pipe smoking in a portrait because it tells you a little bit about the person. I imagine back in the day the type of pipe might speak more about who the person is and what their lot in life is. The fact that Van Gogh chose that pipe whether intentional or not shows that he was involved with the peasantry and a man of the earth so to speak.

 

[LOREN]

Maybe he just thought his pipe was an integral part of himself, without worrying about "what is the meaning of the pipe..."

 

[Cigar City Piper]

What does it mean to have a picture taken with a pipe? Why did so many of our predecessors have portraits painted or taken with a pipe in their hand or mouth.

It’s a bit of a Rorschach. What do you see?

View attachment 373532

I see a menacing ghostly presence behind his left shoulder possibly influencing Van Gogh to smoke.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Van Gogh was not a deep thinker, nor did he put a lot of deep meanings into his work. His work followed the Impressionists, who were working from an idea of mixing and applying paint at face value. Now, further back in art history, during the Renaissance and even the some of the movements in between dealt with meanings within the arts. But, by Van Goghs time, he was dealing directly with color theory that he was learning from the Japanese prntmakers that were becoming popular in Europe at that time. But, as far as "meaning" within the work, it was merely life, emotion, and the human condition.

He had no intentions of conveying a meaning to a pipe... but by the time the Surrealists developed, meanings in art started to become more interesting.

But, low and behold, Van Gogh was just making pretty pictures.