One of the most unique aspects of the landscape paintings made by Van

Question

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

One of the most unique aspects of the landscape paintings made by Van Gogh is the unique blurring of colors. Van Gogh’s unique blurring of blues and yellows has led some art critics to suggest that he suffered from a type of eye condition that caused him to see colors in the blurred way in which they appear in his paintings. However, this theory cannot explain the unique blurring style Van Gogh used because______________.

A. the unique blurring of blues and yellows used by Van Gogh has been consciously adopted by several twentieth-century artists

B. there are some landscapes that feature the unique blurring of blues and yellows depicted in Van Gogh’s paintings

C. even in Van Gogh’s time, some non-European artists included intentionally blurred blues and yellows in their works

D. even if Van Gogh suffered from blurred vision, during Van Gogh’s lifetime, there was no way to correct the condition

E. if Van Gogh saw colors in a blurred way, then, relative to how natural colors appeared to him, the unique blurring of his paintings would have seemed blurred to him

Legallyblond · Answer

i feel the answer should be A because nothing else makes sense

ankushsambare · Answer

Conclusion needed : The theory cannot explain Van Gogh’s unique blurring style, so the correct answer must show that an eye condition cannot account for that uniqueness.

A. Says other artists adopted his style. This does not show why his own style cannot be explained by an eye condition. Not relevant to the argument.
Eliminate A.

B. Says some real landscapes have blurred colors. This does not address whether Van Gogh’s vision explains his painting style.
Eliminate B.

C. Says some non-European artists intentionally blurred colors. This does not show why Van Gogh’s blurring cannot be due to vision.
Eliminate C.

D. Says the condition could not be corrected in his lifetime. This has nothing to do with whether the condition explains his style.
Eliminate D.

E. If Van Gogh saw blurred colors, then his paintings would have looked blurred relative to how colors appeared to him. This means the blurring in his paintings would not reflect a unique style caused by vision alone. This directly shows why the theory cannot explain his unique blurring.
Select E.

Final Answer: E

gotitright · Answer

Am I right in thinking that the passage is saying that van gogh employed this unique style in his landscape paintings, so if he had eye condition then that unique style won't be unique but normal to him. Is this the gist we're getting after taking option E as the answer?

Also I don't understand option E clearly. Can someone please explain it.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

The theory:  Van Gogh’s eye condition caused him to see colors in a blurred way, so he painted them that way.

We need a reason why this theory cannot explain his blurring style.

The clue:  if he saw everything blurred, then his blurred painting would look normal to him not  “blurred”  in the artistic sense relative to his own vision. So, to intentionally paint in a blurred style (as an artistic effect), he would need to perceive a difference between his blurred vision and his blurred painting but if his vision was already blurred, the painting would match his vision, so why would it seem like a  “style”  to him?

That’s what option  E  is about:

if Van Gogh saw colors in a blurred way, then, relative to how natural colors appeared to him, the unique blurring of his paintings would have seemed blurred to him

That doesn’t make sense, if his vision is blurred, the painting would look normal, not  “blurred”  to him. So the theory fails because it can’t explain why he would intentionally create a blurred effect, to him it wouldn’t be an effect, just reality.

Answer: E

Dereno · Answer

The passage explains about a painter VG whose landscape paintings were so unique, that VG used blurring of colours , especially blue and yellow. This led to the critics of VG criticising him as a person with defective eye condition, that makes him see colours in the same way he has created the painting.

However , this word brings in the contradiction from the earlier statements, that this theory cannot explain the unique blurring style of VG because ________.

The fact is VG landscape paintings contained blurring of colours, which cannot be denied.

But, the question is do VG really saw the landscape in his vision as blurred , so that he created it as he has seen.

The word, HOWEVER clearly resolves the ambiguity that -  what he had seen is different from what he has painted . So, the eye sight is not defective and the painting was done intentionally to make it blurred.

A. the unique blurring of blues and yellows used by Van Gogh has been consciously adopted by several twentieth-century artists.
 
The question mentions VGs landscape blurring painting as unique, even though it’s consciously adopted by 20th century artists is not a matter of concern. Moreover, we are not aware of the exact time line of VG and his paintings. Hence, wrong.

B. there are some landscapes that feature the unique blurring of blues and yellows depicted in Van Gogh’s paintings.

The landscape paintings of VG is unique , not some. Hence, this contradicts the fact given in question. Hence, wrong.

C. even in Van Gogh’s time, some non-European artists included intentionally blurred blues and yellows in their works.

The option speaks about non European artists vs European artists. The bone of contention is whether VG created the art scene intentionally or does he have a defective eye condition. Hence, wrong.

D. even if Van Gogh suffered from blurred vision, during Van Gogh’s lifetime, there was no way to correct the condition.

This is actually a strengthening statement, which accepts the critics version of an eye defective condition. And due to which, the paintings were blurred. This goes in contrary to the word however, hence wrong.

E .  if Van Gogh saw colors in a blurred way, then, relative to how natural colors appeared to him, the unique blurring of his paintings would have seemed blurred to him.

This clearly goes against the critics version that VG had a defective eye condition. The defective eye condition during painting is NO DIFFERENT from the condition prior to painting. So, the natural colours could have appeared to be blurred too. This, option correctly concludes, why the critics version is wrong.

Option E

gotitright · Answer

I understand the part that if he had eye condition then the blurring in paintings would be normal for him not unique. But how do we know that it wasn't unique only for us but for van gogh also. From what line are we picking that it was unique for him?

Bunuel · Answer

Experts' Global Video Explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiwdZSI-IhQ

One of the most unique aspects of the landscape paintings made by Van

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