Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” depicts the swirling and turbulent light of the night sky over a dark almost deathly country village, reflecting Van Gogh’s inner struggles with his mental demons, illness and thoughts of what was beyond life. The painting was created in June of 1889, towards the end of his life, during his stay at the Asylum of Saint-Remy. Suffering from declining health and mental instability, the peaceful regimen of the sanatorium served as a period of personal reflection and inspiration for many of his greatest works. One such work, ,“The Starry Night”, thought by many to be his single greatest work he deemed a failure. In a letter to his brother Theo he once remarked that “All in all the only things I consider a little good in it are the Wheatfield, the Mountain, the Orchard, the Olive trees with the blue hills and the Portrait and the Entrance to the quarry, and the rest says nothing to me” (Van Gogh 853). While he may have only sold two paintings in his lifetime he was well reviewed by Albert Aurier a fellow artist and art critic. He wrote that Van Gogh “perceives the coloration of things with such intensity, with such a metallic, gem-like quality, his work as intense and feverish, his brushstrokes as fiery, very powerful, his palette as dazzling, and said his technique matched his artistic temperament: vigorous and intense”( Les Isolés: Vincent van Gogh).
The asymmetric composition of the work is emphasized with curved and diagonal
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.
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.
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.
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch artist from the mid 1800’s who was considered to have created approximately 2000 artworks. Growing up, he was classified to be highly emotional and having low self-esteem. Within those depressed emotions, it helped him pioneer the path of expressionism in his art pieces. But as he got more into him artwork he came more mature with his artwork and caused his color patterns and brush strokes to evolve into another style of art called Impressionism. Starry Night Over the Rhone was one of his last ‘few years’ paintings. It was painted in September of 1888. The canvas resides in Musée d'Orsay,
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,
This masterpiece was painted by Van Gogh in 1889 while he was receiving treatment in Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a mental asylum. The beautiful painting that many people have come to love today was never appreciated during its own time. Various art critics thought that the large brush strokes Van Gogh had made in Starry Night seemed “messy” and “childlike”. The strokes also convinced people that Van Gogh was truly crazy and that he was not as talented as other artists. Yet the pencil thick lines are what made the painting look hyper-realistic and eye-catching. They have a calming, consistent effect on people whose eyes want to follow the swirls and lines. The brush strokes that Van Gogh added more texture, detail, and blended the colors easily to one another in Starry Night. The realistic details make it feel as if the painting is trying to get a message across to the public. With every line that Vincent van Gogh had made he put as much feelings into them as he did with effort.
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.
The Starry Night is one of the most famous paintings in the history of western culture. It was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1889 and is recognized as his finest work. This artwork is oil on canvas and is currently in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. An interesting fact about the artwork is that it is painted from Van Gogh’s memory, unlike his other works which are painted outdoor. This painting is the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Reme-de-Provence. The view includes the starry sky, cypress tree, village, and hills. “This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big. “wrote Van Gogh.
Vincent Van Gogh is a well-known artist to people because of one of his paintings, The Starry Night. Van Gogh has painted many other pieces during his lifetime including one that is currently on display at the Minnesota Institute of Art, Olive Trees. This painting is part of a series of olive tree paintings consisting of a total 18 pieces of art. The one at the Minnesota Institute of Art was painted November of 1889 and is known as “Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun”. Through a contextual analysis of this piece a lot can be discovered about its meaning. When this piece is compared to other artwork by Van Gogh even more fascinating details emerge about this piece of art.