Nicole Keller 17 October 2013

A Pair of Shoes Rhetorical Analysis In Vincent Van Goghs painting, A Pair of Shoes, Van Gogh strays from his traditional landscape scenes and focuses on a pair of boots. The boots, which are centered in the painting, are lying on a floor, touching each other with the left boot turned upside down. The boots are brown, worn leather and the right boot is unlaced. The background is simple without any other objects. The floor features various shades of navy blue. There is an uneven line marking the transition from the navy blue floor to a warm brown backdrop. The transition marks the horizon. The boots are differing shades of brown. Orange-browns cover the inside of the boots and the soles whereas blue-browns cover the outside of the boots. The shades of browns in the shoes are used in the brown background. The orange-brown sole of the left boot features contrasting silver, shiny nails. This is the only contrasting color in the painting. From the type of shoe Van Gogh selects, to the orientation of the boots, to the choice of colors, and the simple, plain background, Van Gogh conveys his argument: A blue-collar worker quickly finds comfort in returning to his home after a long, hard, repetitive day of work. The details Van Gogh includes in his boots, such as the worn out leather and the emphasis of nails, provide content suggesting a blue-collar worker. The colors and painting techniques focus on form to convey a feeling of a warm, simple home. Van Gogh could have chosen any kind of shoe to paint such as dress shoes, ballroom shoes or even athletic shoes. He knew the type of shoe dictated the argument of his piece; therefore he chose brown, generic leather work boots. These boots and their details provide the content of the argument. Choosing to paint worn boots instead of dress shoes shows the viewer that the subject of the argument is a blue-collar worker. Van Gogh deliberately wants the shaft of the boot on the right to be wrinkled and flopped over showing the leather was soft from wear. Van Gogh also decides to

Nicole Keller 17 October 2013

highlight the nails on the soles, making the nails the only contrasting color in the piece, and thus the focal point. The nails further emphasize the wear on the boots the soles are worn down to expose the nails. It is also evident that the soles continue to be worn down as indicated by all the shiny nails. The detail of the boots shaft and the nails are successful in adding insight to the blue-collar workers life. The owner of these boots is constantly moving, working outside, doing manual labor and wears these boots everywhere to do everything. These boots have been on a journey with their owner and the wornness of them shows it. Additionally, the arrangement of the boots contributes to the content. By having one shoe turned over, and the other shoe unlaced shows the hastiness and the relaxation of the owner at the same time. The owner was comfortable in the place where he took off his shoes since he did not care to set them up right. The boot position also shows the owner was anxious to remove them and forget about them. This further emphasizes the life of a blue-collar worker: he had worked a long hard day in the boots and when he came home he wanted to discard the boots as quickly as possible. The location of the boots in the painting also adds to the argument of a blue-collar life through form. In art, a common ruleof-thumb is to not center the subject of the piece. Van Gogh, however, centers the boots. This is successful because Van Gogh did not include any other objects in the painting, and wanted to make the focal point as obvious as possible so one could concentrate on how the details play into the story of the piece. Van Gogh is incredibly thoughtful in how he stages the boots. He has the boot on the right standing up, slightly angled to the left. This boot is unlaced with the strings dangling to the left side. As previously mentioned, the shaft of the boot is flopped over and it also points to the left. By pointing all aspects of this boot towards the left, Van Gogh creates motion in the piece and causes the viewer to focus on the left shoe. The left shoe is upside down and

Nicole Keller 17 October 2013

the main visible part is the sole. The sole is angled upward, towards the right boot that is standing up. This refocuses the viewer on the right boot. Therefore, the focus of the image shifts back and forth from each shoe, which helps to emphasize the importance of the boots in the argument of the painting. Van Gogh uses color in his form to convey the setting of the argument. The use of dark blues, and warm and cold browns gives the feeling of nighttime. The dark blue is reminiscent of the night sky and the cold browns add to the darkness in a house associated with night. This feeling is contrasted by the orange browns, which add warmth and coziness in the painting. The orange-browns can be associated with candlelight, or light from a fireplace. This creates the feeling of a home, explaining why the owner was comfortable leaving his shoes turned upside down. Also, the multitoned colors Van Gogh uses in his painting on the floor, the boots, and the backdrop add richness to the painting. This further adds to the comfort feeling associated with the space where the boots were left. The setting is conveyed as a comfortable refuge after a long, hard day of work. Van Gogh also chooses interesting colors for the background. It is unique that his background color is almost identical to the color of the boots. By using similar colors in his piece and keeping most of the colors muted and dark, Van Gogh gives the feeling of a simple life. Flashy colors in comparison would have indicated a lavish or exciting lifestyle. Van Gogh takes advantage of the complementary colors. His use of burnt oranges on the sole of the boot and the inside of the boot complement the blue ground. Complementary colors make each object appear brighter when placed adjacent to each other. In this case, the complementary colors help the boots pop from the similar colored background, which contributes to the focus of the painting. Through Van Goghs use of subject matter, attention to detail in both the appearance of the boots and the position of them, and

Nicole Keller 17 October 2013

color choices, he successfully conveys the argument of his painting. All elements in the painting contribute to portraying the life of a blue collar worker coming home from a long day of work, kicking off his boots and relaxing in the comforts of his home.