Starry Night

Starry Night, which is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, was first exhibited in 1889 at Paris' annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Vincent's brother, Theo, had this work displayed with van Gogh's Irises, although Vincent himself had proposed one of his paintings from the public gardens in Arles.

Subject matter

thumb|upright=1.35|A similar view of the site, 2008

The view was from the quay on the east side of the Rhône, into the knee of the river towards the western shore: coming down from the north, the Rhône turns to the right at this point to surround the rocks on which Arles is built. From the towers of Saint-Julien and Saint-Trophime at the left, the spectator follows the east bank up to the iron bridge connecting Arles to the suburb of Trinquetaille on the right western bank. This implies a view from place Lamartine towards the southwest (coordinates:

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Genesis

thumb|Letter sketch, 2 October 1888, now in the [[Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam]]

Van Gogh announced and described this composition in a letter to his brother Theo:

The foreground indicates heavy rework, wet-in-wet, as soon as the first state was finished. The letter sketches executed at this time probably are based on the original composition.

Colours of the night

The challenge of painting at night intrigued van Gogh. The vantage point he chose for Starry Night allowed him to capture the reflections of the gas lighting in Arles across the glimmering blue water of the Rhône. In the foreground, two lovers stroll by the banks of the river.

Depicting colour was of great importance to Vincent: in letters to his brother, Theo, he often described objects in his paintings in terms of colour. His night paintings, including Starry Night, emphasize the importance he placed on capturing the sparkling colours of the night sky and of the artificial lighting that was new to the era.

Ursa Major

In September 1888, when Vincent van Gogh painted this picture on the banks of the Rhône, he was looking southwest towards the city of Arles. The Ursa Major is never visible from that direction as it is a circumpolar constellation. However, he could turn his head to the north of his position to see the constellation as depicted. He ended up merging a terrestrial plane and a celestial plane in his painting. With this choice, the stars are now positioned above the gas lights and create the illusion that the water is illuminated by the stars themselves instead of just by the artificial lights.

The technique for painting the stars

In 1888, he painted the stars to resemble flowers in the night sky. By the time he painted The Starry Night in 1889, his technique had evolved and the brightness of the stars is symbolized by concentric dotted circles.

See also

  • List of works by Vincent van Gogh
  • The riddle of the painting (Extensive research explains the assembly in the painting of a celestial plane and an earthly plane).)

References

Sources

  • Boime, Albert: Van Gogh's Starry Night: A History of Matter and a Matter of History . Arts Magazine. 59 (4): 86–103. (also available on CD-ROM: (German version))
  • Dorn, Roland: Décoration: Vincent van Gogh's Werkreihe für das Gelbe Haus in Arles, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zürich & New York 1990 / ISSN 0175-9558