Expressionism: Van Goughs Starry Night 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.

The Starry Night is one of Vincent Van Gogh’s main works and is arguably his most famous painting, although at the time it was his strangest. The painting is currently held at the MOMA or Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and has been since the year of 1941. Van Gogh painted this in the month of June in the year 1889. It is an oil painting on a canvas that is 73 x 92 centimeters. Vincent Van Gogh used brush strokes and colors in such a way to create this beautiful piece of art with contrast and movement. This piece is truly breath-takingly stunning.

Vincent van Gogh was a deeply troubled, post-impressionist artist and his painting “Starry Night” is his most famous piece. Working from memory, he painted the oil on canvas passing the time in Saint-Remy-de-Provence located in southern France while undergoing treatment in an insane asylum. The piece is very energetic with eleven fireball

In my research / readings of my chosen Artist, I found a lot of information about them that I will descibe individually. Based on the biography, It has been stated that Vincent “was a most well known post-impressionism Artist, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, he was highly emotional, lacked self-confidence and struggled with his identity and with direction.” (Templeton Reid) In the late 1800’s is when Vincent basically made the decision to become an Artist, in which he wanted to provide some type of Happiness because he was able to create beauty (Templeton Reid). As you review the art chosen above by Vincent Van Gogh, you will notice the colors used were dark i.e. Greens, Oranges, Blues, with splashes of yellow to create the sun, which led me to believe that maybe this was when he was in the dark place of his life. In the Van Gogh painting, I see big trees with the nice bright sun shining over the blue water, while looking at the trees it makes me feel safe because of the openness of the surrounding space, also the brightness of the sun and the coolness of the water makes me calm and relaxed, it’s just something about being in nature that gives me a sense of peace and direction, nothing to distract or disturb me.

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

The mystery associated with the Starry Night has haunted scholars for years and even led them to use his declining sanity as the only source of his work. Arguably, while this is true, it is not necessarily the only truth, and it is definitely not a complete theory. While I believe his psychology does play a large role in his conception, it is not the only explanatory factor for his actions or thoughts. Just like any other occurrence or creation, there is more than one intention or factor that decides how

The Starry Night are one of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings. The Starry Night was painted from a memory that he had. And wasn't painted from a landscape. The landscape was formed using curves and forms of short lines he also used a form of swirling lines and texture. He used blue, white, and yellow lines to paint the piece. And it became one of his most famous pieces of art. He finished the art piece in 1889.

Van Gogh depicted clouds and stars in whirly shape in order to direct the viewer´s eye around the painting. When standing in front the painting, one would spontaneously be attracted by those swirls and would follow one swirl to another. These elements make the painting seems to be fluid and abstract. The yellow crescent moon at the upper right corner is blight and mild. It softens the painting to convey a sense of serenity. Compared to other Impressionist paintings, Starry Night is somehow different: van Gogh used very expressive color and distorted form to give the viewers a very bright picture. Van Gogh wrote a letter to his brother to point out that compared to other Impressionist artists of that time, he utilized “exaggeration in terms of composition.” He uses techniques such as surrealism to draw those swirls. In Starry Night the landscape seems to be a way to convey the artist’s emotion. I believe that the fight van Gogh had against his mental illness is reflected in the painting. When looking at the upper sky in the painting, there is a strong contrast between the sky and the stars, similar to what van Gogh experienced that time: his illness and his hope to recover. Van Gogh painted the village in dark color but on the contrary, he used bright color to draw the windows. I think this contrast gave people the idea that finally human should have hope and try their best to overcome the

Vincent Willem Van Gogh was a Dutchman born on March 30, 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. The Starry Night is one of Van Gogh’s famous paintings in the world. It was believed that his painting was the view from his bedroom window. After a petition was signed saying Vincent Van Gogh was dangerous, they moved him to an asylum. He lived in a hospital where he suffered occasional relapse into delusions. While he was there, he was able to read, paint and withdraw from his room. As he was going through depression, Van Gogh then began to have hallucinations and even have thoughts of suicide. His art helped him stay emotionally balanced. He then started to paint The Starry Night, and used dark colors. For example, in the painting he clearly paints all the buildings dark and black and paints the stars and the moon brighter to make it stand out more. In his painting, he included a cypress tree which is usually found in cemeteries and represent mourning. There were rumors about his death, saying he had died because his illness

Impressionism is an art movement initiated in France (Paris) in 19th century. The name of this art movement was taken from a French artist’s name called Claude Monet, who painted his artwork (impression, sunrise). Impressionism art movement combined a group of prominent French artists, who their exhibitions became more important through 1870 – 1880s, despite the opposition from the classical art community in France. Claude Monet’s painting was provoked by the Critic Louis Leroy.

Starry Night contrasts more to Housman’s poem, because while it is uncertain as to what Van Gogh’s piece real meaning is, the meaning can be inferred, and with the possibility of yellow representing hope, then it is different from Housman’s which is more acceptance that life has no meaning. As Van Gogh was mentally unstable for the majority of his life, he was put in a mental health asylum, where he made Starry Night, and the artwork itself was the view he saw from his window. Van Gogh felt isolation for the majority of his life as most people did not appreciate his art when he was alive, so Starry Night’s dark colors can express how he felt, and the yellow could

“The Starry Night" was created in 1889 during the post-impressionistic period which was a time in which artists used symbolism and color to expressed their feelings and psychological well being (MOMA Learning, n.d.). Additionally, this was also a time in

Before starting my research into van Gogh. I knew as much as the ordinary person would about him. His artwork is so renowned in the world that generally everyone has an idea of who he was and I shared that understanding. Whenever someone talks about post-impressionism van Gogh’s name is always mentioned. Before my research, I knew two of his works, one, a self-portrait (1887) , which is one of over thirty portraits he painted between 1886 and 1889. The second artwork is the famous ‘The Starry Night’ , which I first discovered by looking at a teapot my mother owns which has the painting on it. I remember it catching my eye because of the way van Gogh was able to capture light and the way he created movement in the sky through the use of swirls but I hadn’t taken my interest in his work any further.

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,

Starry Night was painted by Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter who was well known for being an impressionist during his time. Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853 in the Netherlands and died at the age of 37 in France where he actually painted Starry Night while in the Hospital. Starry Night is located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (Van Gogh Gallery). The main point of emphasis in Starry Night is the relationships between a community, nature, and religion. Van Gogh ties these three points of emphasis together in an exceptional manner in Starry Night. He compares the community and nature by placing the town near an alluring