Van Gogh's work from his early Dutch period centered on the lives of peasants and poor laborers. He used sharp lighting techniques in these paintings, along with a dark palette of muted, earth tones, which the Van Gogh Gallery says suggests a melancholy atmosphere as seen in "The Potato Eaters " (1885).
When van Gogh began studying art in Paris in 1886 he met Gauguin, Pissarro and Monet. In France, the artist began to lighten his palette and paint with a short brush stroke. The website Art Movements describes impressionism as a style in which color and vibrancy are the focus. Artists captured their images with the use of bold color as opposed to painting with detail.
Van Gogh’s art also embodied the highly emotive style of expressionism. According to Art Movements, rather than objective reality, expressionists depict the subjective emotions and responses aroused by objects and events. In this style, the artist conveys his interpretation and perception of the surrounding world through his art.
Van Gogh employed a squiggled stroke in his paintings, a modified form of pointillism, which gave his paintings a sense of whimsy and movement. Art Movements says this method of color application or brush stroke developed out of the impressionist movement. The use of small dots of color gives the art a sense of vibrancy when seen from a distance.
The Van Gogh Gallery says van Gogh painted a number of cypresses, wheat fields, blooming orchards and florals using painted impasto. These works include "Orchards in Blossom," "Olive Trees With the Alpilles," "Cypresses," "Wheat Field With Cypresses" and "Starry Night." According to the website Empty Easel, this painting technique uses thickly textured paint, resulting in a visible impression of each brush stroke. Empty Easel says this method of painting can be explained as sculpting for the canvas and that the brush strokes may be more important than the subject matter itself.