Vincent Van Gogh is a now infamous artist who suffered mental health issues, resulting in him taking his own life. His artwork is some of the most famous in the world but to what extent this is because of his story. His mental health difficulties lead to him cutting off his own ear and later taking his own life. Van Gogh’s last painting was Wheatfields with Crows. Before taking his own life, Van Gogh wrote to his brother saying; “They are vast stretches of corn under troubled skies, and I did not have to go out of my way very much in order to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness” (Van Gogh, 1890). Van Gogh had tried to express his feelings through his last piece of artworks, in a way he simply couldn’t express through words. Within his book, John Berger explains, “paintings are often reproduced with words around them” with the image of Wheatfields with Crows below. He asks the viewer to look at the painting for a moment before turning the page. Turning the page reveals that this was the last painting Van Gogh painted before killing himself.

Once that statement is said, it completely changes the way we, the viewer, see the painting in an indescribable way. “The image now illustrated the sentence” (Berger, 1972). Artworks are often accompanied with some sort of caption, this can completely change the way we see and interpret an image. Because Van Gogh killed himself, that changes the way we see this artwork, not by the individual intentions of each piece, but through the lens of the artists’ story.

Francesca Woodman was a famous photographer who too faced suffered mental health issues, resulting in her taking her own life. Her photographs are shot in black and white film with a long exposure setting. The photographs are often in a square with often off-center composition. Her photography presents the idea of disappearing and existing only temporarily through her constant movement in her work. Without knowing that she later threw herself out of the apartment window, perhaps the viewer can’t persevere the themes presented within the photographs and could interpret them completely differently. Many critics ask the same question; “Did Woodman’s dreamy, erotic, body- and soul-baring self-portraits prefigure her death?” (Fiore, 2018) or was her intention completely separate. “The words “haunting,” “ethereal,” and “ghostly” are often used to describe her photographs” (Fiore, 2018) and are often displayed around her photographs changing the perception in which we, the viewer sees her images.

Francesca Woodman has become famous after she committed suicide and because of that we see her images as a direct expression of her story. Francesca Woodman wrote annotations on her photographs and gave them to individuals. The annotations are as much a part of the artwork as the photograph itself. The annotations may present her mental state through the content of her words and the way she has scribbled the words. These change the way we see her images and interpret meaning. Because of how these images are presented with words around them, either by the artist or the way they are presented (for example a gallery or website), it has changed the way we see her artwork. 

Vincent Van Gogh’s Wheatfields with Crows (1890) doesn’t directly reference the artist and his own mental state. The piece just shares imagery that shares similar emotions. The painting doesn’t directly reference the artists own emotions and could be overlooked if the artist’s story wasn’t known. In direct contrast, Francesca Woodman’s photography includes herself and therefore directly makes her a part of the intended meaning. Because the pieces directly reference her, the interpretation is that the images are about her and her own mental state and the desire to disappear. She presented herself continuously in this way she put together her photographs. The Tate website references this when it says, “Most people are conscious of how they present themselves and how they would like others to see them. Francesca was no different. Although photographs are often seen as showing the truth, Francesca’s pictures are thoughtfully staged”. Her images are again more disturbing when you know the artists story and how she later jumped out of an apartment window. This again references the idea that art can be seen differently when the artist’s story is known.

It could be argued the artists fame has come from their story as it draws attention. The Tate website references this idea; “Those who die young are always something of an enigma, leaving us with questions of what might have been had they lived. Suicide is a taboo subject but one that draws fascination”. Van Gogh’s Wheatfields with Crows (1890) feels almost separate from him, Van Gogh isn’t in the painting, only after knowing the circumstances surrounding his death would you know how to interpret the painting. Many of Van Gogh’s works are open to interpretation so knowing he died, gives the viewer something to interpret the paining with and perhaps even a viewpoint to look at the artwork from. Undoubtedly, knowing that the artist ended their own lives will change the way in which we see their work.