Comparison annotation for Diamond Dust Shoes and A Pair of Shoes

Andy Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes and Vincent van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes share some similarities but are defined more by their differences. Diamond Dust Shoes and A Pair of Shoes both feature the obvious, shoes, but while they share the same subject matter, they do not share much of anything else. Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes features women’s shoes, all of different colors, and none of them the same style. Vincent van Gogh’s shoes are only a single pair of men’s shoes that are the same color. Warhol’s shoes, though they appear to be randomly dispersed throughout the piece, all have the front of the shoes pointed towards the center of the piece. Van Gogh’s shoes are located in the center of the piece. The brushstrokes within each work provide the most dynamic contrast. Warhol’s brushstrokes are almost nonexistent, except for the occasional cosmetic fix, but Van Gogh’s brushstrokes are clearly visible. Despite the fact that both pictures have nondescript backgrounds, Van Gogh’s background does provide a sense of depth for a three dimensional object, which Van Gogh’s shoes are created to be. Warhol’s shoes, on the other hand, appear flat and two dimensional. The black and diamond dust background does not provide a way to make the shoes appear in a three dimensional space and causes the flat shoes to become nothing more than two dimensional objects. This idea of two dimensions is further justified by the idea that the image represents the reproduction of a photograph of a shoe rather than the actual shoes. Van Gogh’s image, though, appears to represent the reproduction of the real thing. Van Gogh’s picture shows worn shoes representative of hard work while the other displays fancy shoes in a sea of diamonds, representative of fame and fortune. The first image represents hard work while the other represents easy reproduction.

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