a painting i like essay starry night

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“Analysis of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night”, Essay Example

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The “Starry Night”, painted by Vincent Van Gogh is an oil painting on canvas measuring 73 x 92 that was created in June of 1889. Starry Night has come to be one of the most well-known paintings in modern day culture and one of the most replicated prints in art. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime; however, he has come to be one of the most famous artists of all times. Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853 and traveled to Paris in 1886 where he began to paint in short brushstrokes like the impressionist during that time period. Van Gogh was troubled with some personal issues, possibly a brain disease or lead poisoning and ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. (Van Gogh Gallery) He was admitted to Remy a psychiatric hospital, called Saint Remy. It was at Saint Remy where he created the famous masterpiece, “Starry Night”. (Life of Van Gogh) His troubled personal life explains why the picture was a nocturnal piece with an underlying drama to it. The elements in the painting of lines, lighting, space, color, principles of balance and focal point all illustrate the drama that the artist was undergoing during his creation of the “Starry Night”.

Van Gogh paints a night sky and swirls the clouds and lights the clouds to shine their own luminescence, as well as a shining bright crescent moon. The lines in the sky of the painting are interesting because it keeps the viewer’s focus moving across the painting. In addition, the lines curve and create an onward movement that attracts the viewer and keeps them involved with the painting. Furthermore, Van Gogh uses unique thick brush strokes that are very obvious to the viewer. It has been hypothesized that his harsh brush strokes are in relation to his mental status while he was painting; however, all of his paintings do show consistency with his unique brushstroke. The ironic thing about the hard brushstrokes and the meaning of the brushstrokes is that Vincent himself felt more at ease with that technique in painting. For instance, he wrote a letter to his brother, Theo, and stated, “I should not be surprised if you like the Starry Night and the Ploughed Fields, there is a greater quiet about them than in the other canvases” (Artble). Even though there were harsh brushstrokes and the painting was set at night, Van Gogh made portions of the painting bright and filed with starts. This brings us to the lighting in the painting.

Within the brushstrokes, as mentioned previously, there is light that guides the viewer through the dark night. This illustrates Van Gogh’s favor for nighttime. He makes the sky extremely powerful as it sits above a small town. He swirls the colors and lines that incorporates both the color and light that he uses throughout the painting. The sky is painted with white clouds and bright stars. The main lighting in the painting is the bright shining starts and the crescent moon. The shining stars illuminate the sky, as well as the large crescent moon. The heaviness of the brushstrokes and the rich colors give a sense of chaos. There are also lights shining brightly from the windows of the houses in the town below, but it looks more peaceful than the chaotic sky. It was been thought that this was Van Gogh’s way of making peace with his illness and finding his way to heaven. The light in the sky and houses therefore represent hope that even in a dark night, there is light. Basically, he was giving himself hope through the lighting exemplified in the painting, telling himself that no matter how dark a time is there is still hope. In addition, the letter written to his brother indicates that the lighting made him feel calm and relaxed. (Artble)

In addition to the brushstrokes and lighting, Van Gogh creates spacing in his painting that allows the viewer to move their eyes between the stars and the curves in the sky to create a dot-to dot effect (Artble). The spacing creates a fluid movement of brushstrokes resulting in a calm and beautiful piece. It was indicated during the Van Gogh’s time, the Impressionist painters were not focusing on this type of spacing in their art work, making Van Gogh’s work unique and extremely distinct for the 19 th century. (Artble)

Van Gogh’s chose the color yellow and blue as the dominant colors in the painting. He also used these colors in many other of his later pieces of art. As mentioned previously, it is said that he was suffering from some sort of brain illness or possibly lead poisoning and it is rationalized that is what influenced Van Gogh to use such different colors in his art work for that time period. He used the bright yellow paint along with white to create the spiral clouds in order to bring attention of the viewer to the sky portion of the painting. He also uses green and other colors in the town, such as orange and red to offset and make the yellow stand out more. Overall, the choice of the bright and rich colors of the night is what draws so much attention and captivates the viewers in this unique piece of art.

There are different forms that are used in the painting, including balance. The balance in the painting is shown through the movement of the brushstrokes that starts on the left end of the painting towards the center, where it becomes the main focus of the painting. The balance is also shown through the harmony that is created with the numerous stars that are in the sky and the houses that are represented below. In addition, balance is made through the position of the cypress trees and the crescent moon in the sky. The combination of the moon, houses, and rolling hills is what ultimately creates a sense of balance in the painting. (Scribd)

The focus of the painting is the lines. The lines in the painting are two different types, a long-term bend and a short-term bend that alternates giving the viewer an engaging feeling. Looking at the painting, the viewer can focus on the harsh brush strokes of the alternating lines and focus on the bright colors made of those lines. The main focus of the Starry Night also leads the viewer to think about how different Van Gogh’s technique was compared to other artists during the 19 th century. While looking at the Starry Night it is easy to look at all the focal points in the painting and realize that Van Gogh was an interesting individual and used his emotions and whatever he was going through at the time to paint his pictures, without following the rules of the time. While he was alive he only sold one painting and now many of his works of art are masterpieces. (Scribd)

There are different reasons why Van Gogh may have painted the Starry Night in the manner that he did. For one, since it was painted during his stay at Saint Remy, it is supposedly his version of his view from his room there. In regard to the form, objects, color, lighting and technique, it has been theorized that both his mental status and the socioeconomic status of the culture during that time period may have influenced the artwork. For instance, he was just hospitalized for cutting off his lobe and he uses harsh brushstrokes to represent the dark night. The cypress trees in the painting give a more gentle approach and may represent the townspeople who were farmers during that period, in which he may have thought of hard working individuals. On the left side of the Starry Night painting there is a large dark object that could represent negativity or rejection. Perhaps Van Gogh added that in the painting to describe his feelings of rejection from society and the lack of interest in his paintings at the time. (Scribd) Overall, the Starr Night is an amazing painting with great depth and unique technique. It is one of the paintings of over all time that majority of individuals, whether educated in art or not, recognize or have hanging in their home. The uniqueness of the color, lighting and brush strokes alone represent a unique masterpiece.

Works Cited

Arble. Starry Night Analysis. Web. 2012. Retrieved on April 1, 2012 from: http://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/paintings/starry_night/more_information/analysis

Life of Van Gough. Analysis of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. WOeb. 2011Retrieved April 1, 2012 from: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bio.html.

Scribd. Web. Retrieved on April 1, 2012 form: http://www.scribd.com/doc/57425684/Vincent-Van-Gogh-The-Starry-Night

Van Gogh Gallery. Vincent van Gogh: Biography. Web. 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2012 from: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bio.html.

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Home — Essay Samples — Arts & Culture — Vincent Van Gogh — Analyzing Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night

Analyzing Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night

Categories: Vincent Van Gogh

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Published: Feb 12, 2024

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“Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh Essay

Introduction, religious aspect, the basic elements, geographical aspect, political and economical influence, the realism of the picture.

Starry Night, created by Vincent van Gogh, is considered to be one of the most outstanding works of world art. It was painted in 1889 during the author’s visit to Asylum. Modern culture centralizes this painting as the real masterpiece of art history. The image under consideration can be analyzed from different angles of social spheres; it can be explained by the fact that the picture relates to the cultural change of its time period.

Many different aspects of the time and culture contributed to the creation of Starry Night as well as to various interpretations of its meaning and its identity as one of the greatest works of world art. The culture of the XIX century differed by its global changes in the development of world art. The famous artists tried to evaluate the significance of the social spheres, which influenced the nature of their artworks. The cultural influence on the theme and manner of the work The Starry Night presented by the author can be evaluated through the complicated world look of its nature.

It should be stressed that the features of the painting are a bit exaggerated. This fact is connected with the state of the spheres of social, political and cultural life and its impact on the nature of the work. Thus, cultural aspect influence and reflection in the character of the painting relates to the techniques used by its author. The analysis of the work shows the peaceful manner of its presentation. All the lines used in the painting are considered to be individual though not so realistic as they could be. Van Gogh considered this picture of his to be not so close to the real life. The exaggeration of the drawing lines is connected with the exaggeration of the cultural values of the author’s epoch. The time impact on the picture manner can be observed in the small details of the work. For example, it reflects the deep intercultural cooperation with the help of the deep sky and curving mirrors. The structure of the painting characterizes the condition of the social life in small villages and towns. The social and cultural aspects are here closely interrelated. A small town painted is covered by peaceful and calm atmosphere being involved into the magic theme of the night. Cultural imagination of the author is interrelated with the social stability illustrated on the picture. The theme of isolation and stress of the night power should be also regarded as the characteristic of the author’s life.

Religious aspect is considered to be one of the central on the painting. Curving lines reflected mildness of the people’s relation to the sphere of culture. Dark colors of the picture underline the stage of the religious domination in the society. It is important to note that the aspect of religion can b easily evaluated through the centralization of the church depicted on the picture. The author reflected the need of the faith affirmation stressing the necessity of going out during the night ion order to admire the starry sky. The rejection of the religious views is considered to be opposed to the aspect of belief. The picture managed to show the darkness of the evening through shades of various colors. The central position of the church at the picture grabs attention on the religious theme of the work. Van Gogh tried to make the church stand out of the small houses of the village. This fact can be explained by the role of the religion in the center of human social life at that period. Considering the fact that the picture is not regarded as the realistic one it should be noted that Van Gogh reflected the glory of God seeing it in the deep blue sky. The stars of the picture stimulated the thoughts development concerning the meaning of the death and immortality.

The basic elements of the painting are considered to be the sky, village and cypress expressing the combination of the past and the future. From the artistic point of view all the elements of the picture are considered to be mystical. Despite the absence of sophisticated structure of the painting it seems to be not so simple expressing the direct meaning. The stars painted on the sky of the picture are associated with the soul immortality. (Vincent Van Gogh. Starry Night, 2008).

Geographical aspect of the picture is expressed through the fact that our earth is the planet if; it could be interesting from the author’s point of view to think of the Dutch or Greek matters contributing to the development of their schools and promoting them on many other planet of the world. The promotion of the basic theme of the picture was devoted to the idea of the picture highlighting not only within the neighboring countries but throughout the whole world. Van Gogh expressed his belief in the life after the death. That is why the picture is so mysterious. The symbolic representation of the afterlife illusion depicted by the author is the indication of the rebirth and cultural reformation. The religious theme of the work is one of the deepest on the picture. The soul transmigration underlined with the help of the exaggerated stars and curving mild lines highlight the traditional ideas of the Van Gogh epoch. (Ravlich, 2001).

Technological influence on the nature of the author’s work was not so vivid and profound. The illustration of the nature harmony puts the theme of technological progress on the second place. The author managed to depict the typical characteristic of the Dutch landscape through the steeple and village calm atmosphere. This picture can be regarded as the address of the author to the past in order to understand the present time.

Political and economical influence on the art of Van Gogh is reflected in the cypress depiction. Poor position of the state will never allow the author to worry about the national political and economical future. This sphere is shown as the process of the sufferings release. In this function cypress is considered to be the central figure of the picture. The impact on the work painted by van Gogh can be characterized by the dominance of the Northern Romantic painting of landscapes; this part of the cultural development of that epoch left a print on the manner of the picture presentation. The sky is considered to be a symbolic representation of the infinity. The play of light and rhythm of the picture involve the viewers of the work into the mystical atmosphere of the harmony between the nature and the society being united by the religious aspect of the painting.

It is important to stress that the painting is quite thought provoking though the first impression could be not so pleasant. The symbols exaggeration is the reflection of the time period of Van Gogh art career. The canvas of power and vitality swirl the sky. Van Gogh came to a conclusion that our planet will move to the heavens sooner or later. He sticks to the point that our world is not physical. The space and physical objects are incompatible that is why earth cannot have a physical nomination. He considered that all spheres of life are in space interconnected. It opens the way to the solution of the human knowledge fundamental problem. The author was influenced by the intellectual sphere of life; he considered that people’s most difficult problems of education, theology and philosophy could be solved due to the intellectual cooperation with the space.

The realism of the picture can be expressed through the play of the art techniques. This can be the main reason for the major influence of the painting on the work of modern artists throughout the whole world. Not only the sphere of art but the areas of architecture and music were inspired by the work The Starry Night. A lot of modern compositions are devoted to this very work of the author. Thus, the famous rapper whose name is 2pac devoted his song to the theme of the painting under consideration. One Spanish group promoted the songs and the views of the painting idea. Different spheres of social activities such as politics, economics, technology and intellectual science managed to be combined in the depiction of the magic night. The Starry Night left a print in the art development of the XIX century depicting all the peculiarities of the social activity. (Vincent Van Gogh. Starry Night, 2008).

Thus, the analysis of the painting managed to show that it covered various aspects of human life taking into account the change of the religion and culture. The picture The Starry Night underwent different interpretations as to the impact of the work on different sides of people’s activities. The theme of the space and its reflection on the problem solution was one of the central due to its magic and mysterious character. To sum up the idea of the analysis one should underline the strong belief of Van Gogh in the afterlife notion and his attempts to connect this belief with the real processes of life. The sphere of world art perceives the painting as the real masterpiece of the painting history.

A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings. Web.

Ravlich, Robyn. Starry Night. 2001. Web.

Vincent Van Gogh . Starry Night. 2008. Web.

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