The starry night by Van Gogh: what it represents

19/06/2017
Author: Caterina Stringhetta
Tag: No tags found

img notte stellata van gogh

THE STARRY NIGHT BY VAN GOGH. WHY VAN GOGH PAINTED IT, WHAT IT REPRESENTS, WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT

In The Starry Night Van Gogh represents the most visionary night in history of art.
Before this painting the night had never been so intense! It’s one of the most famous paintings by Van Gogh, in which darkness is illuminated by violent flashes and by cosmic energy which seems that it can’t find peace.

Like all Van Gogh’s works The Starry Night is like a vision and it can barely hold the energy of the brush strokes.
READ ALSO: Van Gogh is a post-impressionism artist with Gauguin and many other.

img Vincent van Gogh Notte stellata

WHY VAN GOGH PAINTED THE STARRY NIGHT

At the time when Van Gogh painted The Starry Night he was in the asylum in Saint-Rémy.
It was 1889 and he was admitted there after a nervous breakdown, but there he could paint en plein air, and there he painted one of his masterpieces.
In those days Van Gogh wrote to his brother:

“I feel a tremendous need for religion, so I go outside at night to paint the stars”.

The sky, the nature, the starry night satisfied his desire for infinity.

WHAT THE STARRY NIGHT BY VAN GOGH REPRESENTS

In The Starry Night Van Gogh put a small church which resembles those common churches in his native Holland in the centre of the painting; on the left he painted a cypress in the foreground, whereas the small village and the swirling sky with bright orbs seem to blend into one another.
The planet Venus is represented as a star in this sky, and researchers have determined that in the spring of 1889, between the end of May and the beginning of June, it was indeed near its brightest possible. So Van Gogh really observed reality to paint this work.

The sky, the stars and the moon are linked by a movement which gives us the impression that we are inside a swirl, and we feel a strong feeling of vertigo.

WHERE THE STARRY NIGHT BY VAN GOGH IS

The Starry Night by Van Gogh is located at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA)
To see the work of art, all you need to do is book a ticket to the museum.
All information and details can be found in the post MoMA New York tickets.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow me on:

About me

In this blog, I don't explain the history of art — I tell the stories that art itself tells.

Learn more
Subscribe to the newsletter