Starry Night
1889
Vincent van Goph
Sketch:
1. What do you see?
I see a painting of a village with a huge, long sharp darkness that is the largest figure
in the painting. The enormous darkness overlooks a civilization with buildings, and
one long appointed structure. The painting is drawn under a vibrant night sky with an
abundance of mountains in the background. There are also many stars that somewhat
brighten up the night sky. Some stars are bigger than others and are located all over
the night sky.
2. How did the artist use the elements and principles?
The author uses colors like intense violets blue, black, green, and white. The vast
amounts of colors used in Van Gogh’s art tells us that Van Gogh believes that the
night is even more richly colored than the day. These colors vary as Van Gogh
uses very dark blue to show the vast darkness of the night sky as well as light
blues to show how the stars brighten up the night sky. In addition, blue correlates
with colder temperatures. This is Van Gogh’s way of telling us the temperature of
the night sky is cool. The black that Van Gogh uses on the extensive tower tells us
that the stars cast a shadow across the tower. If you look closely, you’ll see that
some stars are lemony colored, others have a pink, green, blue glow. Another
element and principles that Van Gogh uses were lines as he used lines to define
the tall and sharp structure of the dark tower. The very curved lines show what
seems to be the force of the wind at night. Van Goph uses shapes to capture the
brightness and how far the stars are in the night. The stars that Van Gogh paints
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do not use small dots in the sky. They are full circles that vary in size. Small
circles tell you that the stars are farther away. The mighty gloomy stars tell you
that they are closer to you. In addition, the rhythm shows the movement of the
night sky winds. Winds that travel in motion together show a clear direct path. In
the painting you can see that the paint elevates past the 2-dimensional canvas and
van Gogh uses texture to show the appearance of the different winds that flow
through his Starry Night.
3. What is the mood?
I think the mood is gloomy. The gloomy is often shown from the large very dark
figure. Van Goph uses an immense array of cool dark colors. The dark majestic
aura that surrounds the village. The very noticeable dark blue sky depicts a very
quiet sounding environment that is replicated in today’s night. The certain quiet
village with only particular buildings that had lights on. The mood is mostly
determined by the dark sky as well as the gentle stars in the sky. The Stars almost
brighten up the sky like the sun which is also a star. However, Van Gogh shows
us by his painting that the stars are far away from us, by showing how they do not
brighten up the skyline completely.
4. Do you like it? Why or why not?
I personally love the painting that is starry night. It has a strong resonance of
piece that comes upon me when I gaze at the painting. The more I researched the
painting the greater I fell in love with it. I found it ironic that he was never famous
during his lifetime and constantly struggled with poverty, now his paintings are
worth millions of dollars. I noticed that Starry night was one of the very first
paintings where the title was the background. Not only was it me that shared
similar ideas and feelings about this painting. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is a
famous astrophysicist, also loves Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Another
reason why I love this painting so much is when I look at it deeper. I noticed that
the painting was not what Van Gogh saw. He painted what he felt. Van Goph is a
very talented painter. Furthermore, I have watched tons of biographies about Van
Gogh’s and in particular terms with Starry Night he painted through his senses.
The gust of wind and the notion of the stars paired with the loneliness that is
illustrated from the isolation that is the houses and towns that are far is what
makes this piece so beautiful.
