Yellow and Black

camera does not do justice to this yellow

Van Gogh knows yellow like no one knows yellow, as Manet knows black. The Van Gogh show at Tate Britain, focusing on his influences from British art and his influence on later British artists brought this to stark contrast as people tried to use his brush strokes and his yellows, to inconsequential effect.

What Van Gogh accomplished in ten years, self taught, is beyond remarkable. Did he just burn himself out in the flaming of painterly genius, frying his circuits in the doing?

Berthe Morisot by Manet at d'Orsay

We'll never know the forces of this life but its effect remains profound judging by the ongoing interest he attracts ... everywhere, each country wanting to claim a piece of him.

Manet was criticized for his over dark blacks at the time, but I think they stand the test of time and remain fresh and intense, startling yes, and deeply moving.

And in the way that Van Gogh says blue profits from orange and yellow, Manet also demonstrates that yellow and orange profit from dark blacks.