OIL PAINTING: The Italian Woman, 1887
It was only at the age of twenty-seven that Van Gogh chose to become a painter. Arriving in Paris at the end of February 1886, he encountered for the first time a style of painting, that was completely different to his own, both in terms of subjects anc palette, "In Anvers, I never even new what the lmpressionist paintings were; now I've seen them," - He very quickly absorbed what the Impressionists had to teach, but also learned from Gauguin, Seurat and Signac, In this portrait of Agostina Segatori, the model, who stands out, devoid of depth, against the yellow background is painted in outlines of strong, random colors: the painter has achieved the objective he had set himself at that time, "to apply increasingly vivid colors".