The workers boots are worn for their functionality – protecting the foot and leg from water, extreme cold, mud or hazards (chemicals), or providing additional ankle support for difficult activities (hiking) – and for reasons of style and fashion. In some jobs you are legally required to wear workers boots, such as on a building site, however sometimes it’s just part of the uniform to appear smart.
In 1886, while Van Gogh was in Paris, he visited a flea market and came across a pair of worn out shoes. He bought them and brought them back to his studio in the city’s Montmartre district. It’s not clear why he bought them, but it could be simply that he needed a new pair of shoes. Apparently, he did try to wear them and found the fit impossible. Instead, he decided to use them as a prop for painting, and the shoes soon became the most celebrated footwear in the history of modern art. In these paintings, he captures a pair of shoes on the floor, most with laces untied as if they have just been taken off at the end of a long day. Unlike other still life subjects, the shoes have been to all the places and have seen all of the struggles of the owner.
Cologne’s Wallraf Richartz Museum hosted an exhibition dedicated to the Dutch artists single famous ‘Shoe Painting’ series. The exhibition celebrates the art historians and philosopher that have written about these paintings, including Martin Heidegger, Meyer Schapiro, and Jacques Derrida. His shoe paintings can also be seen in several different museums, including The Van Gogh Museum, Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, The Baltimore Museum of Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Robyn White
creativetopicsblog 