Analysis Of Van Gogh 's Agony By Lauren Soth And Under The Starry Night By Denis J. Billy Essay

During Vincent’s time at the Saint-Rémy sanatorium, he painted one of his renowned landscape paintings, Starry Night in 1889. The choice of medium used was oil paint where Vincent famously displayed his impasto technique on the hemp material canvas. He wrote to his brother about his inspiration stating, “This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big” . Hence, you can infer that Starry Night was painted from the view of Vincent’s room where the background of the composition depicts the night scenery of a small and peaceful village, which juxtaposes the movements of the brightly lit sky. However, Vincent did not exactly follow what he saw from his window but painted from what he saw in his imagination, following the likes of Gauguin.

In Van Gogh’s piece of art “Prisoners Exercising” (1890) is shown sadness, depression, and despair of the prisoners. You can say that prisoners are also hopeless, by how the artist drew faces of some of the prisoners. The artist used black, gray, dark blue, brown and dull orange colors, these colors make you feel sad and distressed. By looking at this painting and the colours that were used we can say that Van Gogh was feeling depressed and he had a life crisis. I believe that the artist’s message that he wanted to deliver is, this is how life can look like, making circles in a small room, loneliness, being controlled by other people who are watching your each and every step that you take. Maybe he wanted to show how people look like when they are freedomless.

Select a non-discursive artifact such as a painting, a musical composition, a building, or a piece of furniture. Do the five canons of rhetoric—invention, organization, style, memory, and delivery—apply? If they do, explain how you see them manifest in the artifact.

In Vincent van Gogh’s renowned painting, The Starry Night, the vast night sky dominates the background space of the painting. The brightness of the eleven stars, with their yellow celestial glow illuminate the night, blanketing the sleepy, rural village below. Far from the glaring lights of the urban landscape, the pureness of the stars’ radiance floats effortlessly above, lulling the people of the quaint village to sleep. Hovering in the upper right hand corner is a brilliant orange crescent moon, which contributes to the warm mood and aesthetic value of the piece. Mountains, rolling hills and wheat fields surround the cottages as though nature itself is getting a sleepy respite from a long day, much like the townspeople. Toward the forefront of the painting are

There are different understandings of Starry Night and one of it is that this canvas portrays trust. It appears that van Gogh was demonstrating that even with a dull night, for example, this is still conceivable to see a light in the windows of the houses. Moreover, with sparkling stars filling the sky, there is constantly light to guide you. It appears that van Gogh was, at last, being cured of his disease and had basically discovered his paradise. He likewise realized that in death he would find a sense of contentment and further depicts this by utilizing striking hues as a part of the Starry Night painting. In "The potato eaters" He painted the five figures in earth hues – 'something like the shade of a truly dusty potato, unpeeled obviously'. The message of the work of art was more vital to Van Gogh than right life systems or specialized flawlessness. He was exceptionally satisfied with the outcome: yet his work of art drew extensive feedback since its hues were so dull and the figures loaded with slip-ups. Van Gogh's enthusiasm for evening time is obvious in "the Starry Night" painting, where the effective sky sits over the calm town. It appears that van Gogh is standing out life and demise from iridescent stars and a melancholy, serene

In this piece of art Van Gogh shows that even tho in a dark night you can still look out your window at night and see light. Another example of that would be in your dark or hard times in life, there is always a brighter side to everything.

Perhaps he had come to Arles for the sun and for him, it was an immense joy to live in such bright bedroom, bursting with colors. What is also fascinating about this piece of art is how the painter highlights the simplicity of his bedroom through the medium of color: « the pale lilac walls, the floor of an old brown, the chairs and bed chrome yellow, the blood red cover, the orange little table and the blue basin”, as the painter describes it. Van Gogh asserted that he wanted to express a complete rest by handling all these different shades2. The color black, which could be evocating a certain form of anguish, is almost nonexistent in this painting. Only the frame of the mirror and windows is black. We wonder if this could mean that Van Gogh was afraid of his future and afraid to face up to reality.

Van Gogh felt believed that paintings were conceived in the imagination. He felt like a failure trying to findhis style. Van Gogh painted from nature and working in series. He thought of “A Starry Night” as a religious journey, as like a map, we follow the stars to our death. He was immensely immersed in religion with disillusion not far behind at this time in his life. He believed in life after death andwanted his paintings to show some religious depth. He talked extensively of existing in anotherdimension and used the sky as that

The night sky depicted by Van Gogh in the Starry Night painting is completed with of brightly colored stars, twisting clouds, and a bright crescent moon. This work almost has a dot-to-dot effect on the viewer's eyes because of the swirling motions moving in a circle through the middle of the painting, but Van Gogh uses the large tree and bright moon on different sides of the paper to give the painting unity. Starry Night is arguably one of Van Gogh's best paintings because of the excellent use of all the elements of art, which is hard to achieve in one piece of artwork.

In “Van Gogh’s Agony”, Lauren Soth proposes the argument that Starry Night by artist Vincent Van Gogh is more than just a landscape created from direct observation, but a nontraditional outlet for Van Gogh’s repressed religious beliefs that could not be expressed through traditional Christian imagery. However, Soth presents little convincing evidence from sources both primary and secondary to support this theory. Although some of the evidence may support his thesis, readers are quickly forced to doubt his knowledge. Throughout the paper, Soth presents information that contradicts the theories and information he provides, questions his own arguments, and is very quick to make conclusions and over analyze the artwork. Although Soth does provide a couple points that seem to work in supporting his thesis, these are overshadowed by the time spent focusing on trivial matters.

A great artist once wrote, “If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”. This artist was Vincent van Gogh, soon to be an appraised artist known all around the world for his works, such as Starry Night. He is one of the very first artists of the post-impressionist style than is now adored in every continent. However, there is much more to the man than one painting. Creating a full timeline that stretches beyond Gogh’s life, this paper will discuss the life of Vincent van Gogh and the impression he made on the world.

Vincent Van Gogh was formed by his social, cultural and historical context. This is expressed clearly in the underlying stories of both paintings, Starry Night, 1889 and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889. Both of these paintings portray a narrative relating to Van Gogh significantly as he emotionally connects to the subject in each painting. Van Gogh’s aim of these subjective works was to express meaning through colour and express the painting to a more personal emotion for the viewer. Van Gogh belonged to a small style of Post Impressionism which was a reaction against Impressionism and their formality.

One of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings is The Starry Night. Although, Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, the aftermath of his work is enormous (Schapiro 31). Widely known as his greatest piece of work, the painting has been reproduced several times and is one of his most famous paintings. Van Gogh however, was not satisfied with this painting, in a letter to his brother Theo from Saint-Remy he states,

     With its swirling colors and lines, The Starry Night, incorporates not just the color and light that is found in the earlier works of these painters, but it shows how forms and feelings also came into play. One of van Gogh’s main beliefs was that art was a direct representation of how the artist feels. Having grown up in a very religious family, van Gogh viewed the heavens as a beautiful, living thing. His heavy brushstrokes and vivid colors portray the night sky as crazy and chaotic and the village below as peaceful and serene. Van Gogh’s troubled life, which involved many failures in life, love and business, forced him into madness, which eventually caused him to commit suicide. While the problems of his life may have caused personal trauma, the artistic importance of his insanity is overwhelming. Perhaps if he had not gone crazy, he never would have created the masterpieces that have had such an impact on art and history.

One of Vincent Van Gogh’s most world renowned paintings is his landscape oil painting Starry Night. The painting displays a small town underneath an unusual yet still extremely beautiful night sky. In this night sky, Van Gogh utilizes an array of colors that blend well together in order to enhance the sky as a whole. The town is clearly a small one due to the amount of buildings that are present in the painting itself. In this small town most of the buildings have lights on which symbolize life in a community. Another visual in Starry Night is the mountain like figures that appear in the background of the illustrious painting. Several things contribute to the beauty of Van Gogh’s painting which are the painting’s function, context, style, and design. Van Gogh’s utilization of these elements help bring further emphasis to his work in Starry Night.