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CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
Fri Feb 13, 2015, 06:07 PM Feb 2015

“I have had a most rare vision”: Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night [View all]

“It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day...” --Vincent, in a letter to his brother Theo

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The Starry Night. 1889. The Museum of Modern Art. New York.

I like the late John Updike’s term, “annunciatory apparitions,” that he finds in Van Gogh’s paintings. It’s a bit of a theological explication but oh, why not? Van Gogh can seem a throwback to himself as the (failed) evangelist preacher, with a religious theme in The Starry Night. This is the viewpoint from Legomenon, an online literary journal that explores the meaning of art. The working theory here has Van Gogh comparing himself to the Old Testament’s Joseph in this passage

“Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brother, saying, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.’ ” Genesis 37.9

In the Bible story, Joseph is a dreamer and an outcast who was thrown in a pit, sold into slavery and endured years of imprisonment (as Van Gogh was held in an asylum in Saint-Remy, which is where he created this masterpiece). Joseph’s eleven brothers gave him no acceptance or respect. The artist, feeling rejected by the art critics of his day, may be saying “you disrespect me now but someday I will get the recognition I deserve.” And, of course, the painting has eleven stars and a crescent moon ablaze in its sky.

The town seems mostly asleep, unaware of this roiling scene. The people are in their snug, tidy world, not conscious of the torment of Vincent, oblivious to his suffering in their very midst.

detail of town
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But is Van Gogh present here? According to this theory, he is, in the image of the cypress tree. It writhes upward, a darkling force challenging the fireballs in the sky above. The cypress tree was something of an obsession with the artist and he painted several landscapes that prominently included them. Ominously, it has historically been associated with cemeteries and the after life.

Before her suicide, Anne Sexton in a terrifyingly prescient poem contemplating The Starry Night wrote

Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die:

into that rushing beast of the night,
sucked up by that great dragon, to split
from my life with no flag,
no belly,
no cry.


This starry night is tense, erratic, frenzied. We can, however, look to his other famous night sky painting, Starry Night over the Rhone, for more of a beneficence.

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1888. Musee d’Orsay, Paris

The goodness and tenderness in this work was completely intended. Van Gogh said, “I want to say something consoling as music does...I want to paint men and women with a touch of the eternal, whose symbol was once the halo which we try to convey by the very radiance and vibrancy of the coloring.” The couple is walking arm in arm in the gas lamps refraction from the town’s houses on the gently moving river and the canopy of a star filled sky. The thick impasto of sky from his loaded brush is more pronounced than in The Starry Night, but the effect here is calming and reassuring to the viewer. He has painted the stars to appear as night flowers, as we see in this beautiful detail

[IMG][/IMG]

Art historian Simon Schama describes the couple “canoodling on the threshold of infinity...what we see is what they feel.” Sadly, for Van Gogh this feeling is what he would long for all of his life but could never have. The artist’s epilepsy coupled with bipolar disorder robbed him of his ability to have a life with a wife and family, which his brother Theo had. The birth of Theo’s little boy was joyful, but also crushing to Vincent’s already fragile mental state.

The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl, reviewing the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit of all seventeen of the gallery’s Van Gogh works last year observed

“...What I had glimpsed in him at first turned out to be lying in wait for me. It was the value of joy, irrespective of happiness, and certainly, of intellectual pride. All good art teaches some variant of that consoling and humbling truth, which anyone might recognize.”

Twenty-eight years before Vincent painted The Starry Night a poet sitting at her window in Amherst, Massachusetts looked out upon her small world as she struggled with the storms within her brain and wrote what Vincent would eventually paint

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here–

NOTE: The quote in the title is not Van Gogh’s. Extra credit to those of you who know the provenance of the title of this post without Googling. Another hint: “That you have but slumbered here, / While these visions did appear.”




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With credit to the Bard of Avon . . . enlightenment Feb 2015 #1
Oh, so you know the play? CTyankee Feb 2015 #2
Without googling, indeed. enlightenment Feb 2015 #3
so I guess you know the poet from Amherst... CTyankee Feb 2015 #5
Okay - I'm guessing here. enlightenment Feb 2015 #14
Indeedy so! I love her! CTyankee Feb 2015 #15
Yay! enlightenment Feb 2015 #24
Yeah, Dickinson is odd. But if any American poet would get this painting, it would CTyankee Feb 2015 #28
Poetry suggestions? F4lconF16 Feb 2015 #109
I like Wallace Stevens, altho he can be a bit difficult. Yeats is fine, too. CTyankee Feb 2015 #111
If you're just enlightenment Feb 2015 #112
I think the quote is from William Shakespeare. stage left Feb 2015 #4
Great play. Glad you like the painting. CTyankee Feb 2015 #6
Many of the mentally ill are exceptionally intelligent and talented. stage left Feb 2015 #54
but they often should not be in managerial positions...hell on earth depending on CTyankee Feb 2015 #57
Yes stage left Feb 2015 #68
I secured another job and left, not knowing that that manager had bipolar disorder. CTyankee Feb 2015 #70
It really depends on the person AndreaCG Feb 2015 #102
It does depend on the person. stage left Feb 2015 #106
I'm always gobsmacked by the chaotic order of Van Gogh. blogslut Feb 2015 #7
You are so right. He had so much to say... CTyankee Feb 2015 #29
Just spent a month with Vincent via the Naifeh/White Smith bio BeyondGeography Feb 2015 #8
Thanks. I got that book from the library. Geez, 900 pages, really? CTyankee Feb 2015 #22
Hey, you started it BeyondGeography Feb 2015 #56
good for you for getting so far into the bio. I didn't have the courage... CTyankee Feb 2015 #59
Since you cited Schama, he and the Beeb did this masterful documentary on Van Gogh BeyondGeography Feb 2015 #69
*** Warren DeMontague Feb 2015 #9
I sure don't need to say how I feel about "Starry Night"! nirvana555 Feb 2015 #96
N/T skamaria Feb 2015 #113
A repost packman Feb 2015 #10
very cool - thanks ! Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 #31
OMG it's beautiful - I love it. IcyPeas Feb 2015 #73
Let's not forget that he also helped The Doctor capture the Krafayis progressoid Feb 2015 #11
Oh, c'mon progressoid. Now you're just... pinboy3niner Feb 2015 #97
I don't think The Doctor is a fan of .... progressoid Feb 2015 #98
Now that's surreal, lol! pinboy3niner Feb 2015 #101
....who? Warren DeMontague Feb 2015 #99
First base pinboy3niner Feb 2015 #100
Those last lines from THAT play, pangaia Feb 2015 #12
OH YANK!!! elleng Feb 2015 #13
SO glad you liked it! CTyankee Feb 2015 #17
Oh, I'm glad you like it ellen! I'm so happy to post it...it's been a pleasure... CTyankee Feb 2015 #23
Great work as usual, elleng Feb 2015 #25
thank you ellen! I love doing these, tho...it's my fun... CTyankee Feb 2015 #53
The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night" RufusTFirefly Feb 2015 #16
wonderful! What a great explanation of the artist's disability/ability! CTyankee Feb 2015 #18
Vincent van Gogh and Turbulence mckara Feb 2015 #19
What genius he had and such pain. Brother Theo declined after Vincent's death. Both died appalachiablue Feb 2015 #20
his biographers believe that both (and their sister wilhemina) also sufferd from it. CTyankee Feb 2015 #35
You have me singing this malaise Feb 2015 #21
One of my favorite of favorites. Richard D Feb 2015 #26
"tears of joy" yes! That happened to me once...a van gogh wheat field with crows... CTyankee Feb 2015 #33
I had that beauty overload happen after a tour through the Frank Lloyd Wright house BlancheSplanchnik Feb 2015 #104
This message was self-deleted by its author Bosonic Feb 2015 #27
i may be wrong here. not sure if i learned this is art school, or just mopinko Feb 2015 #30
i'm a bit obsessed with his palette knife in the second night sky. He must have been CTyankee Feb 2015 #38
hue variation. mopinko Feb 2015 #40
hmm. I think it makes some sense... CTyankee Feb 2015 #42
Thanks CTY. I have always been obsessed with him. As for light - I did Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 #32
well, all artists are interested in capturing the light. But they just strive to do it in CTyankee Feb 2015 #34
Yes...not what I was referring to - I look it up. :>) Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 #80
chiaroscuro. mopinko Feb 2015 #41
It is hard for me to see chiarascuro in this work. Because chiarascuro depened on CTyankee Feb 2015 #44
meant it as a reference mopinko Feb 2015 #46
no, light and shadow were always important but I see how gaslight can influence that. CTyankee Feb 2015 #50
wow never knew you Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 #122
sorry to sound so snippy...I am far from expert and am an amateur in art history CTyankee Feb 2015 #123
Someone made this video years ago Generic Other Feb 2015 #36
that is lovely. thank you... CTyankee Feb 2015 #37
It's actually just called astigmatism. alphafemale Feb 2015 #39
In 125 Years, Millions Of People Have Looked At This Painting. No One Really Saw It Until Now. Omaha Steve Feb 2015 #43
Interesting! Thank you Omaha Steve! CTyankee Feb 2015 #47
Check out his book of letters to his brother. Definately not a "mad" anything. Brilliant writer too. harun Feb 2015 #67
He was an excellent writer. Really expressive of himself, his life and his art... CTyankee Feb 2015 #81
Such beauty. Delphinus Feb 2015 #45
Nice to see you visit here. I do art stuff here at DU every couple of weeks or so... CTyankee Feb 2015 #48
I thought Benedict Cumberbatch's - Van Gogh: Painted With Words was very good, and ND-Dem Feb 2015 #49
Thank you for this! CTyankee Feb 2015 #51
I'm so grateful, appreciative, loving - for THEO n/t UTUSN Feb 2015 #52
and poor Theo had his own psychological problems...he lived only some six months CTyankee Feb 2015 #55
"accident"?!1 Really?!1 n/t UTUSN Feb 2015 #60
It is now thought that the problem with the gun was an accident.....really... CTyankee Feb 2015 #62
The sad thing is edhopper Feb 2015 #58
Terrible luck, that... CTyankee Feb 2015 #61
I think he was too alone edhopper Feb 2015 #82
I wonder, tho, if he didn't want to be alone...people with bipolar disorder often cannot CTyankee Feb 2015 #84
All true. edhopper Feb 2015 #87
I do think some of his visions were as a result of his disordered mind, tho. CTyankee Feb 2015 #88
That's true edhopper Feb 2015 #90
I had a friend wonder awoke_in_2003 Feb 2016 #125
Pictures of Vincent's masterpieces don't due them justice workinclasszero Feb 2015 #63
so true. I used to carry a little magnifying glass into museums but I was stopped so CTyankee Feb 2015 #65
Yes they have to be seen workinclasszero Feb 2015 #71
when I went to the Met as a teen with my aunt- she was appalled that Van Gough "wasted.... bettyellen Feb 2015 #108
Thanks, I would love that! CTyankee Feb 2015 #110
Cool...drinks around Grand Central? I would say Raines Library is the place! bettyellen Feb 2015 #118
OK, great! I will research what's going on where artwise in NYC in the meantime. CTyankee Feb 2015 #119
We can hope! Gosh it has been years... bettyellen Feb 2015 #121
One of my all time life favorite experiences... 3catwoman3 Feb 2015 #64
Yes! That was the place of my meltdown...I started crying in front of one of his CTyankee Feb 2015 #66
I totally get the same feelings seeing his works workinclasszero Feb 2015 #74
I think in my case it was because I had been to Delft and other towns where the great CTyankee Feb 2015 #76
Wow I wish I could go to that museum workinclasszero Feb 2015 #72
I've been going to museums in Europe now for almost a decade just to see the CTyankee Feb 2015 #75
I'm glad that some folks get to see the creative work of humanity workinclasszero Feb 2015 #77
I always say that art always saves you. CTyankee Feb 2015 #79
When I was a child every public school workinclasszero Feb 2015 #83
god, yes...how can we get art into the lives of deprived children? CTyankee Feb 2015 #85
I went there too! They are so different in the flesh... sibelian Feb 2015 #107
I read the book Lust for Life.... IcyPeas Feb 2015 #78
I must read that book...thanks for mentioning it to me... CTyankee Feb 2015 #86
Huge celebration of Vincent Van Gogh in 2015 workinclasszero Feb 2015 #89
Bookmarked for FOREVER Mira Feb 2015 #91
Another gorgeous essay. I have loved Van Gogh from the first... Hekate Feb 2015 #92
Thanks for the sweet complment! I love doing the research and always have a pile of CTyankee Feb 2015 #105
There's an App for that.... Turbineguy Feb 2015 #93
Thank you for that! Hekate Feb 2015 #94
thank you for this. Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2015 #95
My own personal Van Gogh epiphany came with the Church at Auvers RufusTFirefly Feb 2015 #103
The Musee D'Orsay is a blessing... CTyankee Feb 2015 #120
WUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNderful!!! calimary Feb 2015 #114
art is my therapy too. CTyankee Feb 2015 #116
Hah! I know how that is! calimary Feb 2015 #117
No photograph can ever do Van Gogh's work justice. MohRokTah Feb 2015 #115
Somewhat off-track but still interesting. Van Gogh understood the human optic system. erronis Sep 2015 #124
Puck. :>) pangaia Feb 2016 #126
I was hoping to get to MoMA last April but illness of my art buddy and my own health issues CTyankee Feb 2016 #127
You know, I just rrealized this mpost was from last year. pangaia Feb 2016 #128
getting there, but slowly and with setbacks. I have to talk to my neuro doc about CTyankee Feb 2016 #129
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