Analysis of The Painting "Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gough

The painting Starry Night is one of the most recognizable paintings. It is everywhere, it can be seen on towels, coffee mugs, shirts, etc. It is a sumptuous piece of work. Vincent van Gough painted Starry Night in 1889 while he was a patient at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, in the prior year he was recognized for cutting his ear off.

When you observe the painting notice the difference of brush strokes in each part of the painting. In the sky they whirl, around the clouds, stars, and moon he highlights their color to draw your attention there. Many say that the brushwork is dreamlike or almost too good to be true. The many hills roll into a tiny village, the village, however, contrasts all of the soft brush strokes. Interrupting the brushstrokes surrounding it the town is straight up and down. You can see in Starry Night he returned to blending the darker colors as he did at beginning of his career. Blue overtakes the painting, blending hills into the sky. The tiny village lays at the base in the painting in browns, greys, and blues. Even though each building is outlined in black, the yellow and white of the stars and the moon stand out against the sky, making the eyes look the to the sky. They are the main attention grabber of the painting

People often associate Genesis 37:9, which states, “and he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; the sun and moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me”. Divide the painting into three parts. The sky is celestial. It is by far the most dreamlike part of the painting. Next down one level to the cypress, the hills, and the other trees on the ground. They curve and swirl, but yet there are still soft angles that match the soft swirls of the sky. The last part is the tiny village. The straight lines and sharp angles set it apart it from the rest of the painting, seemingly separating it from the ‘heavens’ of the sky. With placing the church in the middle of the village Van Gough stretches up to the sky bringing God to the village.

Vincent van Gough committed suicide in 1890. Although during his lifetime he was not known since his passing he is very well known throughout the world.