The Starry Night is one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous and easily recognized works of cosmic genius. Van Gogh painted this masterpiece in 1889 while in Saint-Rémy, France, seeking treatment for a psychological ailment. It was a painting that van Gogh had contemplated for many years and had long postponed. The iconic painting of van Gogh’s The Starry Night conveys the Post-Impressionistic era by his use of distinctive brushwork, intense colors, and a range of descriptive objects, which displays how his distressed soul and brilliantly vivid mind exposed themselves in this painting. The technical brushwork of The Starry Night demonstrates quick, heavy, and thick strokes that possess a persistent, chaotic rhythm about them. In a letter that
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The colors that van Gogh placed on this canvas were symbolically charged with emotions and feelings. The feelings of seclusion van Gogh must have endured as a struggling and unacknowledged painter throughout his life, and after he was admitted to the Saint-Rémy asylum, are observed in The Starry Night and accurately color the whole significance of this elusive masterpiece. To make these intense colors come to life, van Gogh used an effect called impasto, which is the application of dashes of heavily painted color. His application of randomly smeared heavy color assisted him in expressing his feelings more forcibly. Van Gogh described the starry night sky he envisioned to his sister Wil and explained to her how the night sky was “‘more richly colored than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues, and greens’” (Naifeh and Smith 649). For his vision of The Starry Night, van Gogh also explained to Wil the vibrant colors of the stars by stating, ‘If only you pay attention you will see that certain stars are citron-yellow, others have a pink glow, or a green blue and forget-me-not brilliance’” (Naifeh and Smith 649-650). He applied white and yellow to create the spiral effect that makes the entire composition look as though it is in motion. At the foreground of the painting, red and green dark, swirling cypress trees appear to move as they are immersed in the sky’s …show more content…
It emerged as one of the most significant paintings created during the nineteenth century. Van Gogh’s Post-Impressionistic use of distinctive brushwork, intense colors, and a range of descriptive objects assisted in revealing his deeply distressed soul through his representation of The Starry Night. His unique, uncharacteristic technique enabled him to paint a night sky of kaleidoscopic beauty, light, and energy unlike any the world had ever
The colors that van Gogh placed on this canvas were symbolically charged with emotions and feelings. The feelings of seclusion van Gogh must have endured as a struggling and unacknowledged painter throughout his life, and after he was admitted to the Saint-Rémy asylum, are observed in The Starry Night and accurately color the whole significance of this elusive masterpiece. To make these intense colors come to life, van Gogh used an effect called impasto, which is the application of dashes of heavily painted color. His application of randomly smeared heavy color assisted him in expressing his feelings more forcibly. Van Gogh described the starry night sky he envisioned to his sister Wil and explained to her how the night sky was “‘more richly colored than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues, and greens’” (Naifeh and Smith 649). For his vision of The Starry Night, van Gogh also explained to Wil the vibrant colors of the stars by stating, ‘If only you pay attention you will see that certain stars are citron-yellow, others have a pink glow, or a green blue and forget-me-not brilliance’” (Naifeh and Smith 649-650). He applied white and yellow to create the spiral effect that makes the entire composition look as though it is in motion. At the foreground of the painting, red and green dark, swirling cypress trees appear to move as they are immersed in the sky’s …show more content…
It emerged as one of the most significant paintings created during the nineteenth century. Van Gogh’s Post-Impressionistic use of distinctive brushwork, intense colors, and a range of descriptive objects assisted in revealing his deeply distressed soul through his representation of The Starry Night. His unique, uncharacteristic technique enabled him to paint a night sky of kaleidoscopic beauty, light, and energy unlike any the world had ever