Art is always considered to be subjective. But this quality opens the doors to discussion, debate and criticism. 132 years after Vincent Van Gogh painted the iconic Café Terrace at Night, a new debate brewed over Twitter regarding Van Gogh’s skills as a painter.
It all started when Twitter user going by the name Margarita tweeted a side-by-side comparison of Van Gogh’s painting and Chinese artist Haixia Liu’s realistic reinterpretation of Café Terrace.
“Haixia Liu, 1962, (left) paints van Gogh more skillfully than Van Gogh (right). Should expose how overrated van Gogh is” tweeted Margarita.
Haixia Liu, 1962, (left) paints Van Gogh more skillfully than Van Gogh (right).
Should expose how overrated Van Gogh is. pic.twitter.com/ZJMsHtGmPU
— Margarita (@margaritaevna95) August 7, 2020
But Van Gogh fans quickly came to the painter’s defense, explaining realism isn’t the only judge of a great painting.
One tweet said, “Are we really saying Van Gogh was a bad artist now because he didn’t paint hyper realistically. Is that what we’re doing now. Way to completely miss the point of why Van Gogh painted in the way that he did in the first place.”
Other users also backed up Van Gogh’s technique, a style that has been celebrated and admired for several years.
Read through some of the tweets below:
Yeah, no, no Van Gogh slander in this house please pic.twitter.com/7RGm6gtwMq
— moth god (@toastsandwichh) August 31, 2020
Who says it’s more skillful?
Do you somehow know that Van Gogh was going for the image on the left, but just couldn’t get it right?
Maybe he painted exactly what he wanted, but you don’t fully appreciate it?
He’s not trying to paint a photo.— bonsaibean2 (@bonsaibean2) August 28, 2020
“Why isn’t all art R E A L I S T I C?” pic.twitter.com/KkQivMs1AN
— Iantos (@IantosWolf) August 31, 2020
i don’t agree with the the left being more “skillful” than the right, but should it even matter? Van Gogh is known for more than just how realistic he can make a painting. Finding value in art other than “woah it looks so real!!!!!” is really important imo
— termite Taseric (@tTaseric) August 30, 2020
Realism is literally the easiest form of artwork. It’s simply copying what’s in front of you. There are a million realism painters and none of their work stands out as unique because it’s just a photo recreated with oil on canvas. It requires zero vision or creativity.
— Andy Smith (@AndySpartyOn) August 28, 2020
