Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" is considered by many to be the pinnacle of expressionism. It is curious that the artist himself considered it an extremely unsuccessful work, and it was written at the time of the master's mental discord. What is so unusual in this canvas - let's try to figure it out further in the review.
"Starry night" Van Gogh wrote in a mental hospital
Self-portrait with cut off ear and pipe. Van Gogh, 1889
The moment of creating the picture was preceded by a difficult emotional period in the life of the artist. A few months earlier, Van Gogh's friend Paul Gauguin had come to Arles to exchange paintings and experiences. But a fruitful creative tandem did not work out, and after a couple of months the artists finally quarreled. In the heat of emotional distress, Van Gogh cut off his earlobe and took it to a brothel to the prostitute Rachel, who favored Gauguin. So they did with a bull defeated in a bullfight. The matador got the severed ear of the animal.
Gauguin left soon after, and Van Gogh's brother Theo, seeing his condition, sent the unfortunate man to the hospital for the mentally ill in Saint-Remy. It was there that the expressionist created his famous painting.
"Starry night" is not a real landscape
Starlight Night. Van Gogh, 1889
Researchers are trying in vain to figure out which constellation is depicted in Van Gogh's painting. The artist took the plot from his imagination. Theo agreed at the clinic that a separate room was allocated for his brother, where he could create, but the mentally ill was not allowed out into the street.
Turbulence in the sky
Flood. Leonardo da Vinci, 1517-1518
Either the heightened perception of the world, or the sixth sense that opened it, forced the artist to depict turbulence. At that time, eddy currents could not be seen with the naked eye.
Although 4 centuries before Van Gogh, a similar phenomenon was depicted by another brilliant artist Leonardo da Vinci.
The artist considered his painting extremely unsuccessful
Starlight Night. Fragment.
Vincent van Gogh believed that his "Starry Night" was not the best canvas, because it was not painted from life, which was very important to him. When the painting came to the exhibition, the artist said of her rather disparagingly: "Maybe she will show others how to depict night effects better than I did." However, for the expressionists, who believed that the most important thing is the manifestation of feelings, "Starry Night" has become almost an icon.
Van Gogh created another "Starry Night"
Starry night over the Rhone. Van Gogh.
There was another "Starry Night" in the Van Gogh collection. The stunning landscape cannot leave anyone indifferent. The artist himself, after creating this picture, wrote to his brother Theo: “Why bright stars in the sky could not be more important than the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take a train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we also die to get to the stars.”
Vincent van Gogh is a rather mysterious person, his creative way went through an addiction to alcohol and a stay in a mental hospital.
History of creation
The painting "Starry Night" was created by the author in 1889 in the Saint-Remy-de-Provence hospital. This painting is considered a masterpiece. It is located in the Museum contemporary art in New York. While in the clinic, the artist painted about 150 works. Van Gogh's brother Theo took care of permission to paint in the hospital. To distract himself from the attacks that tormented the author, he could paint several pictures in a day. this work created by Van Gogh from memory, not from nature. This makes it stand out from the rest of the paintings.
Painting composition
In the painting "Starry Night" a special place is occupied by the crescent and stars. They immediately grab the attention of the viewer due to the special technique of performance. The light emanating from the moon and stars creates the appearance of a spiral, which only emphasizes the unsurpassed beauty of the heavenly bodies in the picture. In his creation, the artist tries to combine the unattainable greatness (stars, moon) and earthly life(cypress, village). Cypress trees seem to want to touch the sky, to join the gentle dance of the luminaries. Due to the peculiarity of the strokes, it seems that the heavenly bodies are moving in the sky.
FROM right side the artist depicted the village. Blue colour roof reflects Moonlight even more. The picture is overflowing with mystery and splendor, even though they appear in it. dark colors. But against the blue background, the yellow light of the stars and the moon looks amazing.
Technique, performance, techniques
The technique of performing the night sky, the transfer of all the necessary shades at the same time, was not yet mastered in this period. Vincent van Gogh was practically a pioneer in this field of art. Dutch artist uses a combination of dark blue, different shades of yellow, while adding dark green, sky, brown shades. The color scheme impresses with its unusualness. All colors unite and complement each other, while emphasizing the subtlety and depth of the picture.
The canvas depicts 11 stars and a waning month. So the artist wanted to draw a parallel with Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles.
The author of Starry Night was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Prior to that, he led an immoral lifestyle, abused absinthe, worked hard. These factors have led to mental disorders. In 1888, while in drunkenness and having quarreled with his friend Paul Gauguin, the artist cut off his earlobe. The artist's neighbors complained about him to the mayor's office because of the constant noise. So he ended up in the clinic.
Starry Night - Vincent van Gogh. 1889. Oil on canvas. 73.7x92.1
There is no artist in the world who would not be attracted by the starry sky. The author has repeatedly turned to this romantic and mysterious object.
The master was cramped within real world. He considered that it was his fantasy, the play of the imagination, that was necessary for more full picture. It is known that by the time the picture was created, the author was undergoing another course of treatment, he was allowed to work only if his condition improved. The artist was deprived of the opportunity to create in nature. Many works during this period (including "Starry Night") he created from memory.
Powerful, expressive strokes, thick colors, complex composition - everything in this picture is designed for perception from a great distance.
Surprisingly, the author managed to separate the sky from the Earth. One gets the impression that the active movement in the sky does not affect what is happening on the ground. Below is a sleepy town, ready to fall into a peaceful sleep. Above - powerful streams, huge stars and incessant movement.
The light in the work comes from the stars and the moon, but its direction is indirect. glare illuminating night city, look random, broken off from the general mighty whirlwind that reigns over the world.
Between heaven and earth, connecting them, grows a cypress, eternal, undying. The tree is important for the author, it is the only one capable of transmitting all the heavenly energy to those living on earth. The cypress trees strive for the sky, their aspiration is so strong that it seems - another second and the trees will part with the earth for the sake of the sky. Like tongues of green flame, the centuries-old branches look up.
The combination of deep blue and yellow flowers, a well-known heraldic combination, creates a special atmosphere, fascinates and attracts attention to the work.
The artist repeatedly turned to the night sky. AT famous work"The sky over the Rhone" the master is not yet so radical and expressive approach to the image of the sky.
The symbolic meaning of the picture is interpreted by many in different ways. Some tend to see the painting as a direct quote from the Old Testament or Revelation. Someone considers the excessive expressiveness of the picture the result of the master's illness. Everyone agrees on one thing - the master, towards the end of his life, only increases the internal tension of his works. The world is distorted in the perception of the artist, it ceases to be the same, it reveals new forms, lines and new emotions, stronger and more precise. The master draws the attention of the viewer to those fantasies that make the world brighter and more unusual.
Today, this work has become one of the most recognizable works Van Gogh. The painting is in american museum, but the picture gets into Europe regularly, exhibited in major museums Old world.
Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" is considered by many to be the pinnacle of expressionism. It is curious that the artist himself considered it an extremely unsuccessful work, and it was written at the time of the master's mental discord. What is so unusual in this canvas - let's try to figure it out further in the review.
1. “Starry night” Van Gogh wrote in a mental hospital
The moment of creating the picture was preceded by a difficult emotional period in the life of the artist. A few months earlier, Van Gogh's friend Paul Gauguin had come to Arles to exchange paintings and experiences. But a fruitful creative tandem did not work out, and after a couple of months the artists finally quarreled. In the heat of emotional distress, Van Gogh cut off his earlobe and took it to a brothel to the prostitute Rachel, who favored Gauguin. So they did with a bull defeated in a bullfight. The matador got the severed ear of the animal.
Gauguin left soon after, and Van Gogh's brother Theo, seeing his condition, sent the unfortunate man to the hospital for the mentally ill in Saint-Remy. It was there that the expressionist created his famous painting.
2. "Starry night" is not a real landscape
Researchers are trying in vain to figure out which constellation is depicted in Van Gogh's painting. The artist took the plot from his imagination. Theo agreed at the clinic that a separate room was allocated for his brother, where he could create, but the mentally ill was not allowed out into the street.
3. Turbulence is depicted in the sky
Either the heightened perception of the world, or the sixth sense that opened it, forced the artist to depict turbulence. At that time, eddy currents could not be seen with the naked eye.
Although 4 centuries before Van Gogh, another brilliant artist Leonardo da Vinci depicted a similar phenomenon.
4. The artist considered his painting extremely unsuccessful
Vincent van Gogh believed that his "Starry Night" was not the best canvas, because it was not painted from life, which was very important to him. When the painting came to the exhibition, the artist rather disparagingly said about it: "Maybe she'll show others how to do better night effects than I did.". However, for the expressionists, who believed that the most important thing is the manifestation of feelings, "Starry Night" has become almost an icon.
5 Van Gogh Created Another Starry Night
There was another "Starry Night" in the Van Gogh collection. The stunning landscape cannot leave anyone indifferent. The artist himself, after creating this picture, wrote to his brother Theo: Why can't the bright stars in the sky be more important than the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, so we die to get to the stars.”.
Today, the works of this artist cost fabulous money, but
The abyss of stars is full.
The stars have no number, the abyss of the bottom.
Lomonosov M.V.
The starry sky as a symbol of infinity attracts and fascinates a person. It is impossible to take your eyes off the picture, which depicts a living, twisting sky in a whirlwind of eternal galactic motion. Doubts about who painted the picture " Starlight Night”, does not occur even among those who are poorly versed in art. Not a real, invented sky is written in rough, sharp strokes, emphasizing the spiral movement of the stars. No one had seen such a sky before Van Gogh. After Van Gogh it is impossible to imagine starry sky others.
The history of the painting "Starry Night"
One of the most famous paintings Vincent van Gogh painted in the asylum Saint-Remy-de-Provence in 1889, one year before his death. The artist's mental disorder was accompanied by severe headaches. To somehow distract himself, Van Gogh painted, sometimes several paintings a day. About the fact that the staff of the hospital allowed the unfortunate and no one at that time unknown artist, to work, was taken care of by his brother Theo.
Most of the landscapes of Provence with irises, haystacks and a wheat field, the artist painted from nature, looking through the window of a hospital ward into the garden. But "Starry Night" was created from memory, which was completely unusual for Van Gogh. It is possible that at night the artist made sketches and sketches, which he then used to create the canvas. Drawing from nature is complemented by the artist's fantasy, intertwining phantoms born in the imagination with fragments of reality.
Description of the painting by Van Gogh “Starry Night”
The actual view from the east window of the bedroom is closer to the viewer. Between vertical line cypress trees growing on the edge wheat field, and the diagonal of the sky is an image of a non-existent village.
The space of the picture is divided into two unequal parts. Most of given to the sky, the smaller one - to people. Up, towards the stars, the top of the cypress is directed, similar to the tongues of a cold greenish-black flame. The spire of the church, towering between squat houses, also strives towards the sky. The cozy light of the burning windows is a bit like the glow of the stars, but against their background it seems weak and completely dim.
The life of the breathing sky is much richer and more interesting than human life. Unusually large stars radiate magical radiance. Spiral galactic eddies swirl with merciless swiftness. They draw the viewer in, take him into the depths of space, away from the cozy and sweet little world of people.
The center of the picture is occupied not by one stellar vortex, but by two. One is large, the other is smaller, and the larger one seems to be chasing the smaller one ... and draws it into itself, absorbs it without hope of salvation. The canvas evokes in the viewer a feeling of anxiety, excitement, despite the fact that the color scheme includes positive shades of blue, yellow, Green colour. Vincent van Gogh's much more peaceful Starry Night Over the Rhone uses darker and gloomier tones.
Where is Starry Night kept?
The famous work, written in an asylum for the mentally ill, is kept at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The painting belongs to the category of priceless canvases. The price of the original painting "Starry Night" has not been determined. It cannot be bought with any money. This fact should not upset true connoisseurs painting. The original is available to any visitor to the museum. High-quality reproductions and copies, of course, do not have real energy, but they can convey part of the idea of a brilliant artist.
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