Painting Critique

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Kylie Wetzel
Professor Bomboy
HUM 101
Painting 1500-1900 Critique

“The Starry Night”
The Starry Night was painted in 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh. The painting is the view from Van Gogh’s window in the asylum where he was kept in his final years of life. The Starry Night is just one of the many variations of the same paintings Van Gogh did. One of his most famous variations includes the Starry Night Over The Rhone. Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853. He was a Dutch impressionist. He had a very big influence on expressionism, and early abstract art. Van Gogh was tormented by mental illness and he created most of his work while institutionalized. As a result of his illness he cut off his own ear in 1888. In 1890 Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide by shooting himself.
            Described: In The Starry Night you see a small village with a castle in the middle followed by a sky filled in stars. In the background you can see some mediocre sized hills. In the painting everything is calm and nothing is really happening. The painting gives off a medieval vibe because of the castle. In painting nowadays we don’t really see many castles used.
            Analyze: Starry Night is considered one of the most complex but beautiful paintings ever. The lines are curved and broken at the same time. You can see that Van Gogh used bold brush work. The bright, vivid colors of the stars contrast with the dark tones of the night sky. There is a lot of rhythm in the painting, but there is no repetition. Van Gogh uses the elements to capture the viewer’s attention. He does this by making the stars very big and bright so it’s the first thing that will notice. The Starry Night is painted on a flat surface so it 2-D.
            Interpret: I think Vincent Van Gogh wants us to see how life was like before technology. There were many other calm things he could’ve drew like for example water with no ripples or waves but he chose the night sky because he might’ve been fascinated by astronomy.

            Judge: The best part of Starry Night is the way all of the colors blend together to create the night sky. The strength of the work is how it stands out. If it were to be put in a room with other paintings, it would immediately stands out. The weakness of the piece is that it was never really appreciated during its time. It was never appreciated because it was considered different from the other art pieces of its time. The artist communicated to us through the colors and how peaceful everything looks. I like the painting because of all the colors, the rhythm, and the view.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night

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