Friday, February 1, 2013

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1889)


This painting here is something apart from the usual. The painter, Vincent Van Gogh, checked-in at a mental hospital in the spring of 1889 in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, around 15 miles from Arles, where he used to live. (PLEASE REFER TO MAP)


He had a severe mental condition, but despite that fact, he executed The Starry Night while being institutionalized. The painting appeals to me in many different ways, and it will be a little hard for me to express how it goes about, but I will try my best.

From a environmental point of view, I believe that this painting appeals to me due to the numerous times I have encountered this image on billboard, projectors in educational institutions, charity parties, and the list goes on. (BELOW IS SOME EXAMPLES)


This a little blend of "The Starry Night", "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, and a little pop culture from the movie also by the name: "Scream".

On the clock

The Starry Night cake


and of course, Snoopy is included.
Many other paraphrases can be found online, but now I would like to describe the artistic perspective behind the painting.

I feel like this painting is rather gothic, soaring, very nocturnal, but also round and smooth. I feel like death arises upon the church steeple and cypresses winds up in a spiral of glowing stars. The painting is extremely interconnected, but yet there is a little discomfort arising when I stare at it.

I will never know if I feel the way I feel because of the context or based solely or choice of color, composition, and appeal.

It does come to my observation that Vincent Van Gogh is merely obsessed with "The Starry Night" due to the fact that he executes yet another painting, or better yet a ink drawing of the same concept of "The Starry Night", but this time "Cypresses in Starry Night. (DRAWING BELOW)


The rotating skies and the yearning cypresses are offset by the village's church spire, which is a superimposition of a large complex system to be viewed as a single element.

Here is the same drawing in different colors. I felt like including it to show how the elements play together in the previous one.

One can see that in the yellow-ish/brown-ish drawing, the cypresses play together as one unit, where as in the black/white drawing, the cypresses are more separated.

Maybe it is something that I am imaging in my mind, but I feel like that it is what distinguishes good art from not so good art.

Last, I would like to add this picture, because it "LITERALLY" brings "The Starry Night" to life.



No comments:

Post a Comment