Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night

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Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night in the year of 1889 during his stay at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole. He actually lived really well in the hospital. He was allowed the most freedoms of any other patient that was omitted to the asylum. He was allowed to do things like read, paint, draw in his own room, and even to leave the hospital grounds. He was also given a studio all for himself! Even though Van Gogh suffered from relapses into paranoia and fits occasionally, it looked as if his mental health was making a recovery. Sadly, he did relapse. He began suffering hallucinations as well as having thoughts of suicide, plunging into depression. As you could expect, there was a shift in his work. He began incorporating darker colors into his art productions. Starry Night is a wonderful example of his shift into the darker colors. The blue color dominates the painting, blending the sky and the hills together. The little village at the base of the painting is shown in greys, browns, and blues. Although each building can clearly be seen outlined in black, the white and yellow in the moon and the stars stand out from the sky, drawing your eyes up into …show more content…

They had to swirl in order for the sky to get the look that it does. Every spot of color rolls with the clouds around the moon and the stars. In order to get this type of effect, you must have a steady hand so you don’t shake and splatter paint onto other parts of the picture. This type of painting may take years to perfect! Look at how the cypress trees bend with the curve of the branches, another masterpiece in its own. The whole painting gives a dreamlike and tranquilizing spell onto anyone studying the painting. The hills roll down into the little village below. To contrast the sky, the town is straight up and down and is made with rigid lines that disrupt brushstroke flows. The biggest thing about this painting is that the whole idea came completely from Van Gogh’s imagination

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