The Starry Night, an oil painting created by Vincent van Gogh in June 1889, features an impressionistic view out the window of the psychiatric hospital where he voluntarily stayed for nearly a year after suffering a mental breakdown. Vincent van Gogh's art was not commercially successful in his lifetime, but his works today now bring million of dollars at art auctions around the world.
1.) Spend a quiet minute or two looking at the artwork. Then, describe what you see. What part stands out the most?
2.) Write two adjectives that describe the feeling, mood, or atmosphere created in this painting.
3.) Choose a color or element that catches your eye and explain a symbolic meaning that item/element could hold.
4.) Thinking about the subject matter, mood, and symbolic element/s you've noticed, what's a reasonable message this painting delivers to the viewer?
5.) This painting was created from a viewpoint of a person looking down at a village in the distance. How does this perspective impact the message of the painting?
6.) If you were asked by Vincent van Gogh's representative to give this painting a new name, what name would you choose? Explain your reasoning.
Message of the Painting
Considering the restless, overwhelming sky and the dark cypress towering over the peaceful village, a reasonable message this painting delivers is: "In the face of the chaotic, immense, and eternal power of the cosmos, human existence is small, yet maintains a fragile, essential peace." It suggests that while the human mind may experience inner turmoil and the overwhelming sense of infinity, there remains a solid, if humble, structure (the village) to anchor life.
5.) Impact of Perspective
The perspective of looking down at the village from the psychiatric hospital window significantly impacts the message:
Detachment and Isolation: The high vantage point emphasizes the painter's physical and emotional isolation from the community below. The village is distant, viewed as something observed rather than participated in, reinforcing the theme of loneliness or separation experienced during his institutionalization.
Scale and Power: It physically positions the viewer (and the artist) closer to the grand, turbulent sky. This perspective magnifies the immensity and emotional power of the cosmos while diminishing the importance of the mundane human world, underlining the dominance of the inner, spiritual, and emotional landscape over external reality.
Sample Answer
Analysis of The Starry Night
1.) Description and Focus
I see a dramatic, swirling night sky dominating the upper two-thirds of the canvas. Enormous, luminous circles of white and yellow light, representing stars and the moon, are surrounded by powerful, concentric spirals of blue, cyan, and darker blue brushstrokes, giving the entire sky a feeling of intense, restless motion. Below this turbulent sky, a small, dark village rests peacefully, defined by straight lines and warm lights, centered around a tall, dark-green cypress tree that flames up from the left foreground, connecting the earthly village to the celestial chaos.
The part that stands out the most is the dynamic, swirling motion of the sky. The thickness and directionality of the paint make the air itself seem alive, charged with energy, and utterly overwhelming compared to the quiet town below.
2.) Adjectives for Mood
Turbulent
Awe-inspiring
3.) Symbolic Meaning of an Element
The element that catches my eye is the Cypress Tree in the foreground.
Symbolic Meaning: The cypress is traditionally associated with death, mourning, and eternal life, often found in Mediterranean cemeteries. Its dark, tall, flamelike shape in the painting acts as a visual bridge between the small, contained world of the living (the village) and the vast, infinite, and overwhelming cosmos (the sky). It symbolizes the artist's intense contemplation of the spiritual realm and the boundary between life and death.