Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night

The “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art draws viewers into a world of bight, yellow stars set against dark, blue skies. Van Gogh’s goal was to portray the bright light effects with different color combinations. He does this very effectively in his paintings of nature and outdoor night scenes. His artwork successfully conveys such strong feelings of tranquility. One painting portrays ambiguous structures that may represent buildings in the background with lights illuminating a calm sea, while another piece contains colorful swirls to represent the clouds and stars. It appears that Van Gogh experiments more with color variety to portray details of the evening sky and night scenes rather than focus on the greater details of earthly life, such as the houses and buildings. The fact that he does not paint all objects in sharp details adds to the effect of peace and reality during the nighttime. Not everything can be seen clearly during the night; the houses and buildings may look like nothing but specks compared to the bright glares of the stars and lights.