Van gogh starry night - Essay Example

Van Gogh Starry Night The Starry Night is Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous painting and it was produced in 1889, a year before his death. Starry Nightis a clear illustration of Van Gogh’s expressive and vivid style of painting. It is a painting that shows the extent at which Van Gogh transformed village scenery at night into a glittering representation of the innate power of nature. Starry Night is a clear example of oil on canvas painting. The painting describes a small town that is put adjacent to a blue and cosmic dark sky filled with dazzling stars.

Starry Night represents an artist’s attempt to show his perception about reality as Van Gogh successfully showed his expressionism in the creation of a distinct interpretation of reality. Van Gogh was actually on his sick bed in Saint-Remy, France when he did this work and this has led some people to argue that the Starry Night was based on Van Gogh’s observation of the sky over Saint-Remy (Whitney, 1986). If this was the case, Saint-Remy must have been a very beautiful sight to behold during the period that Van Gogh made this intelligent observation as the case may be.

But this argument cannot be said to be plausible as the objects in the painting that is involved in the Starry Night suggests a deep sense of creativity. It could be seen from Van Gogh’s Starry Night, that he had a very good knowledge in astronomy as he used his depth of knowledge in the field to give a picturesque view of the night sky. The painting portrays the immensity of the universe through the level of order between the petite town and the vast night sky. The fact that Van Gogh died a year after this great painting indicates that there were many things on the mind of this artist during the period that he did the work (Soth, 1986).

The complexity in the panting also indicates the complex lifestyle of Van Gogh. There have been different interpretations to the exact meaning of the painting and the fact that people have interpreted the work differently shows the extent of the human mind. Starry Night shows the bond that exists between the power of natural existence and the individual psyche (Layman, 1984). Van Gogh’s beautiful description of a small town with beautiful night stars shows lovers of great paintings that good thinking and imagination would ultimately produce great works of art.

Starry Night shows the extent at which an artist’s astonishment can make them to explore a small town beyond its existence and take this little town to a world yet unseen. The painting shows the depth of quality in the human mind and its capabilities, if used to its full potentials. Starry Night is a great painting that depicts a pure and great form of reality as Van Gogh did a very great work in bringing out the beauty in nature. The fact that the night sky lit up a town that was hitherto dull shows the illuminating qualities of the night sky.

Van Gogh used this painting to show the immense qualities of the night sky as they are capable of bringing dull towns back to life. The painting is a description of nature at its best. References Layman, L. M. (1984). “Echoes of Walt Whitman’s ‘Bare-Bosom’D Night’ in Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night.” American Notes & Queries 22(8), pp. 105-109 Soth, L. (1986). “Van Gogh’s Agony.” Art Bulletin / 68(2), pp. 301-313 Whitney, C.A. (1986). “The Skies of Vincent van Gogh.” Art History 9(3), pp 351-362