Nov 01 2009
Starry, Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is one of his most famous paintings. The painting portrays a serene scene, filled with stars and a tiny village; however, it is in a much more abstract manner. At the front of the painting there is a cypress tree that sticks out boldly, taking up a lot of the painting. The cypress tree seems to be there to isolate the town, creating an eerie, desolate feel, which is enhanced by the usage of dreary colors. This painting is truly authentic because of the feelings that I got from watching it at the museum; I felt as though it had a message that Van Gogh was trying to send.
While the town is uniform, the sky is full of swirls, which are common in Van Gogh paintings. The uniformity of the town may represent what we do know: we know about our surroundings, how we live, what we experience. As a result, the sky would be representative of the unknown. It is clearly not part of the town, and rather the sky seems to be flooding the town.
It may represent how little and insignificant we are in such a big world. There is so much that we don’t know and thinking about is vastly overwhelming. There is a whole universe around us, but we are locked in our tiny villages, our own personal bubbles, because we cannot understand everything around us. We don’t know what our purpose is, or why the universe is here; there is so much that we don’t know and yet, nothing that we can do about it. We are living with the hopes of fulfilling a purpose, that could ultimately be meaningless when compared to the vastness of the universe and our short time in the world.
A song about Vincent Van Gogh:
Vincent by Don McLean
It is amazing how although the subject matter of the painting is so simple, its meaning is so much more intricate.
The swirls represented the mystery of the heavens, and as you mentioned, how powerless we are in comparison.
Rhianna, you make this assignment look like a Facebook conversation. Anyways, I really like Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings because they capture the essence of the post-impressionist period of art. I feel that he brought about this unique and creative aesthetic for conveying a piece of art. Coincidentally, I studied his works in French class and everyone agreed, that Van Gogh brought something new that puts the Impressionist period as history and introduced the post-impressionist movement.
^^ And, that is one creepy emoticon, but I’ll let it be! hahahah
I absolutely LOVE the Starry Night!! I am NO, by any means, NO art fan, but I have seen and admired this painting. In my attempts to remake a modern edition of Starry Night, I’ve been laughed at – many times! It’s funny that you (Amrita) talk about how we are “locked” in our tiny villages. In my horrible attempt, I showed misery amongst the world below and because of that and my “awesome” sun, people realized exactly what was my inspiration.
Artists come and “Gogh”, but Van Gogh will not! hahah 😛