Van Gogh Art Analysis

“For me, painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh.”

-Georges Rouault (Historyofpainters.com, 2014)

I started to like this painting a long time before I knew the background and the artist. Now that I started to learn the elements and principles of design, I find out so many elements and principles hidden in this painting. I like this piece of art more than ever.

Referring to the forms of art, I think this one is artistic expression. Because this painting shows Van Gogh’s perspective, it reviews his emotion and imagination, which is different from the real view of a starry night. Considering the hierarchy genre, this one belongs to landscape.

If we look into the elements of design, I admire what he did with

All the circulations in different colors conveys a sense a motion. Also I feel the movement of the plant since there are lots of curves in the part of plant, like the leaves swayed back and forth in the wind. The top part of the plant gives a sense of direction. It has a desire of growing up. It almost reached the top of the sky in this painting, somehow I feel its strength, roughness and most important, energy.

I did not realize there’s a use of balance when I first think of it. Later on I find out there’s a use of “asymmetrical balance”. Because when you fold this painting across the axis, the elements inside the painting are not mirrored. Most of the time, asymmetrical balance tends to be more dynamic than symmetrical balance. I personally prefer asymmetrical balance than symmetrical balance. There’s a strong contrast in color, the bright yellow color stands out of the dark, peaceful night. Without the bright yellow color, we won’t feel that strong darkness. The strong contrast in color makes both parts more aggressive to the audience. There’s also contrast in pattern. The stars tend to be circular while the giant plant tends to be

First pattern I find are the stars in the sky, they are all in the same shape but different colors and sizes. Second pattern are hidden in the part of village. If you look closely to this part, there are several trees in same shape and different colors which seem to be a repetition. I think he used emphasis by drawing our full attention to the starry night. Van Gogh named this painting as “starry night”, which shows us that his main focus is on starry night. Through the circulations, I really sense the great movement of stars and the strong contrast in color get my full attention when I first saw this painting. Vincent Van Gogh was expressing the brightness and the darkness of the night he felt. I think paintings can be a perfect inflection of painter’s inner feeling and