Ways of Seeing: The Starry Night - Essay Example

Ways of Seeing: The Starry Night Seeing is believing. When we encounter various kinds of things in the world around us, our first response is to gauge their worth using our eyes. The first impression delivered by the eyes is often stronger than other forms of sense. Berger agrees with this perspective and states that “seeing and recognition” come before words. He furthers his argument by stating that seeing aids us in establishing our place in the world but we use words in order to explain our position in this world. It has also been argued that seeing is different from believing and Berger reinforces his argument by talking of the discrepancy between the earth’s rotation about the sun and our visual perception of it. As Berger develops his ideas, he states that our prior knowledge or perception of things tends to affect the way in which we see those things. The use of words to explain things around us tends to influence how we see things in the first place. This relationship between seeing and believing tends to create a dynamic relationship where our past experience or knowledge heavily influences the way we see things and perceive them. In order to substantiate his claim, Berger relates fire that is seen differently today when compared to the Middle Ages when people believed in the “physical reality of hell”. An image is a unique method to preserve something so that people can view it later and “see” it with their own vision. As Berger puts it (Berger 9): “An image is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced ...which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance ...” Berger argues that the “detachment” varies from one image to the other including photographs. However, the contention in creating an image is to enable people to see things from the perspective of the creator. Yet when people generally view an image, they consider it from their perspectives only. The reason for the origination of images as per Berger was merely to “represent something that was not there”. As time wore on, increasing human intellect associated new functions to images. The image became a symbolic representation of an artist’s vision with which the artist could choose to document his personal experiences. When images from the past are “presented as works of art” the actual meaning behind them is “obscured” by personal assumptions such as truth, form, beauty etc. The ensuing mystification between the viewer and the image tends to remove the real historical perspectives attached to that particular piece of art. According to Berger, this is a deliberate move (Berger 11): “... because a privileged minority is striving to invent a history which can retrospectively justify the role of the ruling classes ...” He further argues that viewers could expect to understand the personality of the artist through his works because people evaluate these perceptions through their own vision. However, these ideas of personal understanding of the artist’s personality may not always be true. Berger states that this is actually mystification but we could have an understanding of these personalities (Berger 14): “... because it corresponds to our own observations of people ... [and] ...we still live in a society of comparable social relations and moral value” Berger’s ideas are fully applicable not just to paintings but to other forms of art as well because human perception is relative. This text will explore the application of Berger’s ideas to a piece by Vincent Van Gogh titled Starry Night. As such, Starry Night depicts a night full of stars with a partial moon depicted in the sky over some medieval town in Europe. A tree depicted on the left side of the painting tends to figure prominently and rises towards the painting’s top. In the distance to the right, a grove of trees is visible, beyond which a series of small hills dot the entire landscape till the horizon. The night sky is filled with multiple tones with the lowest edge (along the horizon) being the brightest followed by another tone and terminated by a darker tone that signifies darkness. The stars have been done in more than one color and have surrounding legions of various sizes and colors indicating a difference in their luminosity. The first element that strikes the viewer is the peace and tranquility depicted in the picture. The piece has been done in a nocturnal setting and there is no trace of any human activity anywhere on the canvas. The only reminder that human beings exist is the presence of houses and a steeple near the middle of the canvas. The depiction of the scene truly makes it seem like hung in time without the ability to go either forward or backward. The rural settings of the painting and its overall portrayal depict a scene that must exist for hours in the night where this painting was commissioned. Hence, one could ideally sit for hours looking out on to this scene without any danger of its disappearance. Perhaps one large difference between photography and painting is the matter of fact portrayal versus the introduction of feeling and personalization respectively. The other element that warrants attention in this painting is the use of sharp colors such that various forms seem well separated from each other. The houses are well defined even the houses in the background of the village. Similarly, the tones in the sky are highly well defined and are distinct from the horizon. The tree to the left towering to the top is also well defined in both shape and color. This is unlike the other trees depicted in the grove that are vague. In addition, the stars in the sky and the moon as well as their luminescence are well defined such that they are separable from the neighboring sky. Overall, this serves to posit distinction and then it serves to enhance it at the same time creating a feeling of separation. When the historical dimensions of this piece by Van Gogh are explored, it becomes clear that Van Gogh commissioned this piece when present in a sanatorium. Gogh painted this piece 13 months prior to his death while staying at the Saint-Remy-de-Provence but it is hard to imagine that he was allowed to leave his room at night. Instead, it has been speculated often that Gogh saw the entire scene during the day after which he commissioned the painting in a nocturnal setting at his discretion. Over time, this painting by Gogh has been the subject of attention for myriad artists and art lovers alike. However, Gogh himself was highly critical of this piece and mentioned this piece to his brother Theo in the following words in a letter (Hulsker 396): “At last I have a landscape with olive trees, and also a new study of a starry sky. ... It’s not a return to the romantic or to religious ideas, no. However, by going the way of Delacroix, more than it seems, by color and a more determined drawing than trompe-l’oeil precision, one might express a country nature that is purer than the suburbs, the bars of Paris.” Certain critics have argued that Van Gogh painted this piece when he was either intoxicated or under the influence of drugs while at the sanatorium. Others have claimed that the painter’s transition from life like subjects to more vague mediums in this painting suggests that he might have been under the influence of agents that made him hallucinate. The composition of the stars and the moon in the painting are rather exaggerated and the position of Ursa Major has been changed as well. Another class of critics has labelled the work of Gogh as celebrating divinity on a starry night. This observation tends to connect Gogh to God and the Christian faith strongly while Gogh was not as religious as presumed. In Gogh’s own words (Van Gogh Letters): “... it does me good to do what’s difficult. That doesn’t stop me having a tremendous need for, shall I say the word — for religion — so I go outside at night to paint the stars” When the interpretation of Gogh’s work is carried out in context of Berger’s ideas, a few things must be appreciated. Primarily Gogh’s work in The Starry Night has been interpreted with varying lenses that were not worn by the artist as he commissioned this masterpiece. For one thing, Gogh was neither under the influence of drugs nor hallucinating when he worked on this painting. The crisp definitions of various figures in the painting are a reminder to the artist’s attention to his work so hallucination is not a possibility. In a similar manner, Gogh’s work has been associated with religion while Gogh himself has clearly denied religion as a driving force. These interpretations of Gogh’s works are indicative of people’s personal perceptions being superimposed on the artist’s work such that the real motive tends to sift into the background. While present at the sanatorium Gogh suffered from loneliness and a longing for the nocturne. The removal of personal lenses is essential to realising the real motives that convinced Gogh to create this masterpiece. Bibliography Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972. Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. New York: Random House, 1986. Van Gogh Letters. Letters by Van Gogh. 2010. 23 February 2012 . Read More