Vincent Van Gogh's Yellow Chair & my Yellow Bull

Reading Vincent van Gogh's letters as a young artist had a profound effect on me. I became compassionately connected to his work especially his yellow period at which time he suffered most severely.
The hardship and passion at the time he painted his Yellow Chair were shocking, that a man could be so desperate in his personal life and yet be so moved by paint and colour.

In 2006 I had the urge to paint his chair again only much bigger and after I had already painted in the outlines the idea came to me to transform the chair into a bull standing in the same room as van Gogh's chair.

Somehow it was a transformation of sadness and the feeling of loss reflected in an empty chair into one of strength and hope.
The same spirit that painted the yellow chair painted the yellow bull only this time with no loss of ear.

"Yellow Bull"
Oil on Canvas
240 x 185cm
2006
Pete Kilkenny

"Yellow Chair"
Oil on Canvas
91,8 x 73
1888
Vincent van Gogh