A Personal Analysis of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

One piece of art that has always captivated me is the famous “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh. Despite its popularity, I had always been content to simply admire it rather than formally deconstruct the techniques and meanings embedded in the piece. “Starry Night” possesses a unique charm, drawing me into the intricate details and vast imagination of van Gogh. This exceptionally celebrated piece graces the most prestigious galleries and museums worldwide. It’s surprising, considering its influence, that I hadn’t paused to reflect upon the intentions and significance of this piece to me personally, nor had I pondered the integral role of the materials, lines, balance and rhythm exerted on the overall purpose and presentation of this painting.

Observing the title, “Starry Night”, we are poised to make certain inferences about van Gogh’s masterpiece. Going by the title alone, we can assume that the focus of the piece is the night sky rather than the small town lying along the lower end of the picture. The title, in numerous art pieces, reveals crucial directives to its viewers, aiding the artist in steering their attention. By underscoring the choreography across the canvas dominated by the nocturnal sky, the title guides the viewer to zoom in on van Gogh’s detailed celestial spectacle instead of getting tied up with the stony shadows on the left or the obscure little town.

The type of materials used to create this piece significantly contribute to how the scene is interpreted by viewers. As per The Van Gogh Gallery’s website, the masterpiece was crafted solely using oil paint on a canvas. This differs from oil pastels, another medium van Gogh masterfully used for his other renowned works. In my opinion, the oil paints contribute significantly to the elements of “Starry Night”. I find it hard to conceive that other materials could have equally rendered the depth and expanse that the oil paints achieved. The symphony of colours merged throughout the painting, a topic for further discussion, resonates explicitly with the vigor of the oil painting, perhaps a compelling factor for Van Gogh’s choice of this medium.

The first thing I focus on upon observing “Starry Night”, irrespective of whether it’s my first or thousandth viewing, is the sizeable ebony shape at the center, representing a mountainous terrain. This part of the painting instantly attracts my attention due to its stark contrast with the rest of the painting. The canvas dances with a palette of blues, yellows, and whites, with the exception of the solitary black mountain. Clearly, the prominence and austere style of the mountainous figure in the painting align with a distinct intention.

Something else that is noticed when looking at this piece of work by Van Gogh is that he’s presenting not only a view of a small town nestled into a valley and the sky being bright and alive overhead, but he is also presenting to the viewer how he saw this town, this mountain, and the night sky. This work of art is essentially both representational and nonrepresentational because of the way he’s giving the viewer an image of this town and the landscape around it (which is something that is real and is being taken from reality), while also giving the viewer this image from his own mind, something that was based on nothing but his imagination and couldn’t be pulled directly from reality. It is both something real and something that isn’t real.

There is a wide variety of elements at play in this piece of art. There is the use of color blending, texturizing, and the use of shadowing throughout this piece. The most texture and blending are used throughout the sky, which takes up most of the canvas. Van Gogh blended together the blues and whites surrounding the yellow that is used to show stars and the moon. The blending of these colors mixed with the way that Van Gogh brushed in textures throughout the swirls in the sky, creating a movement to the sky that makes it look alive! In addition to the blending and texturizing, Van Gogh also incorporates the use of shadows and contrast. The town that is at the bottom of the painting is darker and more subdued than the sky and other portions of the painting. It’s done in a way that suggests Van Gogh wanted to physically present the brilliance of the night’s sky casting a shadow over the town at the bottom of the image. Then, as talked about previously, the mountainous figure in the painting was created to look dark and ominous, looming over the rest of the town and contrasting darkly against the bright blues of the sky. These elements of the images all add to the brilliance of this image. I think that without one or several of these elements, this famous painting simply wouldn’t be the same.

Since “Starry Night” is so famous – to the extent that everyone knows this painting or has seen it in some context – I believe that it has many meanings that have been attached to it. Everyone sees something different behind what is on the canvas, not just with “Starry Night” but with any type of artwork from any artist. For me, I think that “Starry Night” is a peek into the world inside the mind of Vincent van Gogh. His artwork was an expression of his world, the one that he had to live in and as a viewer of his artwork, we’re able to get a glimpse of how he saw the world. Nature and the sky are alive in this piece of art, which I believe speaks to how he felt when he was in nature and creating his art.

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