Priya Kapoor
The Starry Night, painted in June 1889, is one of Vincent van Gogh's most celebrated works. It is an oil-on-canvas painting, depicting the view from the artist's asylum room window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise. Van Gogh had a particular interest in painting night landscapes and the challenges they presented, such as the use of contrasting colours and painting outdoors at night. He also had a fascination with stars, believing them to be more than simple white dots on a black background, instead appearing in various colours such as yellow, pink, or green. The Starry Night is a combination of invention, memory, and observation, with Van Gogh's expressive style and thick impasto creating a rich and compelling work of art.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | June 1889 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Colours | Blue, yellow, pink, green |
| Location of painting | View from the window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence |
| Time of day | Night |
| Inspiration | The view from his asylum room window, William Parsons' 1845 drawing of the Whirlpool Galaxy, his mental state |
| Techniques | Impasto, thick outlines, simplified forms, contrasting colours |
| Subject matter | Night sky, stars, moon, cypress trees, village |
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What You'll Learn
Van Gogh's use of colour
In 'The Starry Night', Van Gogh uses a range of blues to create a sense of depth and movement. Some of the blues are cool and calming, while others are energetic and almost frenzied. The painting features several shades of blue that blend seamlessly to create a dreamy and tranquil atmosphere. The blues range from deep ultramarine and Prussian blue to lighter shades of cerulean and turquoise. The combination of these different shades creates a complex, layered effect that makes the painting feel alive and dynamic.
Yellow is also a prominent colour in the painting, used in the stars, the crescent moon, and the swirls of the sky. The use of yellow helps to create a contrast between the bright, luminous sky and the dark landscape below. Van Gogh used yellow ochre, a natural earth pigment, to create warm, golden tones in his landscapes, conveying tranquility and peacefulness.
Shades of green and brown are used to represent the cypress tree and the village in the bottom half of the painting. The green of the tree serves as a contrast to the blues and yellows of the sky, while the brown of the village provides an anchor to the composition. A touch of pink and purple is also incorporated into the swirling sky, adding a soft, dreamlike quality to the painting.
The use of colour in 'The Starry Night' is a testament to Van Gogh's skill as an artist and his ability to evoke emotion through his work. He believed that colours could evoke emotions and used them to convey his feelings and ideas.
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The painting's setting
Van Gogh wrote about the painting in a letter to his brother Theo, describing the view from his window: "Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure, above which in the morning I see the sunrise in its glory." He also described seeing a "magnificent view of the morning star" from his window one early summer morning in 1889.
The painting is a "dreamy interpretation" of this view, with the dark night sky swirling with chromatic blue and the stars and a crescent moon rendered in yellow. The village in the foreground is a peaceful scene, with the glowing yellow squares of the houses suggesting the welcoming lights of homes. The painting thus combines Van Gogh's memory of the view from his window with his imagination, as he was not allowed to paint in his bedroom and had to work from memory or imagination.
Van Gogh was fascinated by the challenge of painting a night landscape and had been thinking about the subject for months before he painted "The Starry Night". He wrote about it in letters to his brother Theo, as well as to his sister and a fellow painter. In these letters, he expressed his belief that the night was more colourful than the day and that stars were not simply white dots on a black background but could appear yellow, pink, or green. He also made several sketches for the painting, including "The Enclosed Wheatfield After a Storm" and "Green Wheat Field with Cypress".
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The painting's composition
The composition of "The Starry Night" is a product of Vincent van Gogh's imagination, memory, and observation. The painting depicts the view from the artist's asylum room window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise. While the sweeping view of the sky and the distant village were real, van Gogh added an imaginary village to the scene.
The painting is dominated by a swirling night sky, rendered in chromatic blue with a glowing yellow crescent moon and radiating stars. Van Gogh employed ultramarine and cobalt blue for the sky and the rare pigment Indian yellow with zinc yellow for the celestial bodies. The stars are not mere white dots but bursts of colour, appearing in shades of yellow, pink, and green. This use of contrasting colours and the complication of painting outdoors at night presented technical challenges that van Gogh wished to confront.
In the foreground, one or two flame-like cypress trees tower, their dark branches curling and swaying in harmony with the movement of the sky. The trees are brought closer to the picture plane, exaggerating their size. Amid the animation of the sky and trees, a structured village sits in the distance on the lower right of the canvas. Straight, controlled lines make up the small cottages and the slender steeple of a church, which rises against rolling blue hills. The glowing yellow squares of the houses suggest the welcoming lights of peaceful homes, creating a sense of calm within the turbulent sky.
The composition of "The Starry Night" reflects van Gogh's deliberate stylization, inspired by medieval woodcuts with their thick outlines and simplified forms. The twisting, spiralling lines have been interpreted in various ways, including a personal Gethsemane and a reference to Christ on the Mount of Olives, though van Gogh himself described them as "exaggerations from the point of view of arrangement". The painting has also been analysed in the context of the artist's mental state, with Naifeh and Smith theorizing that it reflects a "state of heightened reality" and the seeds of his impending breakdown.
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The painting's influences
Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" was influenced by the artist's interest in experimenting with style and technique, his personal experiences, and his observations of the natural world.
Van Gogh was fascinated by the challenge of painting night landscapes, and "The Starry Night" was a culmination of his exploration of this subject matter. He wrote about his interest in capturing the night sky's vibrant colours and the stars' varied hues, rejecting the notion that stars were mere white dots on a black backdrop. The painting's vibrant hues and radiating orbs of stars demonstrate this preoccupation with colour.
The painting was also influenced by Van Gogh's personal experiences, including his mental health struggles. The work was created during his stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum, and some interpret it as a reflection of his state of mind at the time, with its swirling, animated sky perhaps indicating a sense of turmoil.
Additionally, Van Gogh's time in rural southern France, away from the light pollution of cities, allowed him to observe the night sky intimately. This extended observation of the stars and his interest in astronomy may have influenced the painting's depiction of the sky. The painting's dominant morning star, for example, has been identified as Venus, which was in a similar position at the time.
Furthermore, Van Gogh's contemporaries likely influenced him. He mentions Gauguin and Bernard in his letters, indicating a synthesis of motifs and ideas from their discussions. The painting's thick outlines and simplified forms also suggest experimentation with a style inspired by medieval woodcuts, which his friends were exploring.
Finally, one art historian suggests that the painting's distinctive swirls may have been influenced by an 1845 drawing by astronomer William Parsons of the Whirlpool Galaxy.
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The painting's legacy
The Starry Night, often simply called Starry Night, is one of Vincent van Gogh's most famous works and is regarded as one of the most recognizable paintings in the Western canon. The painting has been described as a "touchstone of modern art".
The painting was created in mid-June 1889, inspired by the view from Van Gogh's bedroom window at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh had voluntarily admitted himself to the asylum following a mental breakdown and an infamous act of self-mutilation that occurred in late December 1888. During his year-long stay, he remained highly productive, creating other notable works such as Irises and a self-portrait.
Van Gogh was fascinated by the challenges of painting a night landscape. In a letter to his sister, he wrote that the night was more colourful than the day and that stars were more than simple white dots on black, instead appearing yellow, pink, or green. This preoccupation with the night sky is reflected in The Starry Night, which depicts a night sky roiling with chromatic blue swirls, a glowing yellow crescent moon, and stars rendered as radiating orbs. The painting also includes one or two cypress trees in the foreground, their dark branches curling and swaying to the movement of the sky.
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Frequently asked questions
Van Gogh was inspired by the view from his asylum room's window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise.
Van Gogh used ultramarine and cobalt blue to paint the sky.
Van Gogh used the rare pigment Indian yellow along with zinc yellow to paint the stars and the moon.
The stars in the painting are not mere white dots on a black canvas. Van Gogh believed that the night was more colourful than the day, and this is reflected in his use of colours in the painting.
In his book "Cosmographics", Michael Benson contends that the inspiration behind the swirling patterns in the sky is an 1845 drawing by astronomer William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, of the Whirlpool Galaxy.
