van-gogh-the-starry-night

Van Gogh The Starry Night: The 9 Lesser-known Facts

In the world of art, Vincent van Gogh the starry night is a giant. His painting, "The Starry Night," is one of the most famous and iconic pieces in history. However, there are many things about him that the average person doesn't know. In this blog post, we will discuss seven lesser-known facts about van Gogh and his masterpiece, "The Starry Night."

Who Is Vincent Van Gogh?

van gogh's oeuvre Vincent Willem van Gogh is one of the most famous artists of all time, and his paintings continue to be some of the most iconic and beloved works of art in the world. Though van Gogh himself was relatively unknown during his lifetime, his posthumous fame has only grown in the years since his death. Most people know Vincent Van Gogh as the troubled artist who cut off his own ear. What many don't know is that he was a self-taught artist. He didn't begin painting until he was 27 years old. Prior to becoming an artist, he worked as a missionary, an art dealer, and a teacher. Before he turned 27, he tried out many different jobs. He was a lay minister, a teacher, and an art dealer, to name a few. [amazon box="B07NLR4TZC"]

In Ten Years, Vincent Van Gogh Completed Nearly 900 paintings.

Vincent Van Gogh quit his jobs all of a sudden and decided to put all of his energy into painting and drawing. Once he started, there was no stopping him. Over the next ten years, Vincent Van Gogh made almost 900 paintings and another 1,100 works on paper. This means that he made a new piece of art every 36 hours (on average) It's crazy how much he got done in such a short amount of time. His famous paintings are "The Starry Night" and "The Cafe Terrace at Night." both have unique style and beautiful color. His genius was in his ability to capture light and emotion in his paintings, and his work continues to inspire artists and art lovers alike.

Vincent Van Gogh Had Mental Illness For The Rest Of His Life.

saint paul de mausole Even though it's pretty well known that had a mental illness, we don't know everything about it. What is pretty clear, though, is that he had hallucinations, depression, and seizures, which could be very bad at times. Van Gogh's imagination was too complicated Many psychiatrists of today have tried to figure out what was wrong with him based on what Vincent Van Gogh experienced and the symptoms he showed. Some of the possible diagnoses are schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, syphilis, hypergraphia, Schwind syndrome, and temporal lobe epilepsy. It's also possible that he had more than one of these things. No matter what he was diagnosed with, the way he lived probably made it worse.

He Was Called As The "The Redheaded Madman."

He spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals because his mental health was often bad. Over time, his hallucinations and delusions got worse and more frequent, and people in the neighborhood started to notice him. Because of the way he was acting, they called him "le fou roux" (The Redheaded Madman) and started a petition against him (the Arles Petition). As a result, the police kicked him out of his home for good, and he went back to the hospital.

Vincent Van Gogh Ate Coffee, Cigarettes, And Bread Every Day.

Even though he came from a wealthy family, he lived most of his adult life in poverty and ate cheap food (and not much of it). His main foods were bread and coffee, he drank a lot of alcohol, and he was almost never seen without his pipe. His brother often gave money to help him, but he, who was obsessed and highly imagined with art, used all of the money to buy more art supplies. By the time he was 33, his health was getting worse and worse. Van Gogh wrote to his brother that he had only had six hot meals in the past year and that his teeth hurt and felt loose. Since he worked himself to death, ate badly, and loved to smoke and drink, it's not really a surprise that he got sick a lot. flame like crescent moon eleven stars

Died From A Gunshot

Things kept getting worse until July 29, 1890, when he was said to have killed himself by shooting himself in the chest. Even though the bullet went through his chest and didn't seem to hurt his organs or spine, the doctors couldn't get it out, and two days later he died from an infection in the wound. The better idea for ending his story is that he shot himself, but some people think that a local teen who had teased the artist killed him instead. On his deathbed, van Gogh said to his brother, "The sadness will last forever." This was a very sad thing to say. [amazon box="B08YZ1MZGL"]

Van Gogh Was One Of The First Artists To Do A Post-impressionist Selfie.

Van Gogh painted 43 self-portraits over the course of three years. He did this not out of vanity, but because he had to. Van Gogh had trouble paying for models and didn't have many friends, so he didn't have many other people to paint. In his self-portraits, he often looks dirty and unshaven, with deep-set eyes, a weak jaw, and teeth that are missing. There are even portraits he did right after he (or maybe Gaugin) cut off his ear, when the bandages were still fresh. He also painted over his paintings instead of buying new ones to save money, which makes you wonder what else is hiding under those 900 paintings.

Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" 1889 and How It Became a Masterpiece

van gogh referred painting studio "The Starry Night" 1889 was painted by Van Gogh. The time Van Gogh painted it was while he was staying at a mental asylum called Saint Paul de Mausole in Saint Rémy de Provence, France. The painting is one of van Gogh's most famous and recognizable pieces. It has been described as "the culmination of [van Gogh's] artillery of swirling stars." While the painting is beautiful, van Gogh was not happy with it when he first completed it. In a letter to Theo, van Gogh said the painting made him "sick" and that it was "the worst thing he had ever done." Thankfully, van Gogh's opinion of the painting changed over time. Now, "The Starry Night" is one of the most famous and iconic paintings in history.

Night Study

western art religious ideas french city Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night" is known for its most intense violets swirling, curved lines of hills, mountain range, starry sky, its brightly contrasting dark cypress tree and yellow house, its large, flame-like cypress tree, and its thickly layered brush strokes. Many people think that this painting shows the artist's troubled mind. The canvas Van Gogh painted is a great piece of art, In his letters, Van Gogh's direct observations of it as a "study of night" or "night effect." Theo Van Gogh thought that the painting pushed style too far at the cost of real emotional depth, but the work has become a symbol of individual expression in modern landscape painting. The painting has short, painterly brush strokes, a palette of made-up colors, and a focus on light. This treatment is a big part of why it's so well-known and thought of as a great piece of art. The painting is based on his real-life view of the village. The Dutch, who were known for painting exactly what they saw, changed it. He made a number of important paintings, such as Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear and The Irises, WheatField with Crows, which was the last painting he did before going to bed. Both were taken from his bedroom window in the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy.

What Makes Van Gogh's "Starry Night" So Unique?

People think that Vincent van Gogh's famous painting "Starry Night" is one of his best works. The painting shows a calm night on an ordinary night at Saint Paul de Mausole. The bright, shining stars in the night sky, which are rare in today's busy cities, have a way of luring the eyes of those who look at the painting. The painting kind of makes you feel something right away, and when you look at it for the first time, the twists and turns of the artist's brush strokes will help move your eyes around the painting, making you completely captivated. A beautiful painting like this could be put on canvas and hung in people's homes to make them look better. The canvas will look great no matter where it ends up Van Gogh's style is instantly recognizable. His use of color and brush strokes are unlike any other artist. What many people don't know is that van Gogh used a unique painting technique to achieve his signature look. He would often paint with a palette knife instead of a brush. This helped van Gogh create thick layers of paint, which is one of the hallmarks of his style. Van Gogh paved the way for other avant-garde artists and was an important part of how modern art has changed over time. To understand how much of an impact it had, you have to look at the context, content, and influence of this magical masterpiece, which is worth an estimated $100 million.

Van Gogh's Desire to Inspire Other Artists

With his night scenes, Van Gogh wanted to make people feel inspired and encouraged. They feature Starry Night over the Rhône'' in 1889, at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, an important and influential place for avant-garde artists, Vincent told Theo that he hoped it would "give others the idea to do night effects better than I do." The Starry Night, his own "night effect" that came later, became a key image for Expressionism and is probably his most well-known painting.

Lesser-known Facts About The Starry Night Painting

painted starry night van gogh lived

It Shows The Night Scenes View Van Gogh Had From An Asylum And Could Be About Death

In the winter of 1888, van Gogh had a mental breakdown and went to the Saint Paul de Mausole asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The view inspired his best-known piece of art. In one of the many letters he wrote to his brother Theo, van Gogh said, "This morning I saw the country from the east facing window a long time before sunrise, when all I could see was the morning star, which looked very big." In the foreground, dark ancient woodcuts of cypress trees and olive trees, which is usually associated with cemeteries and death. This link gives this quote from van Gogh a special meaning "When I look at the stars, I always start to dream. Why shouldn't the shining dots in the night sky be as easy to find as the black dots on the map of France? We take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, and we take death to get to a star."

The Iron Bars Were Removed,  Venus Was By Accident

museum of modern art new york Art historians have found that van Gogh changed the view from Van Gogh's bedroom window on the second floor. This is supported by the fact that his studio was on the first floor of the building. He also forgot to mention the iron barred window, which he did in another letter to Theo. He wrote in May 1889, "Through the window with iron bars. I can see a square of wheat... from which I can see the sun rise in all its glory in the morning." Albert Boime, an art historian at UCLA, said in 1985 that Starry Night was like a planetarium show of how the night starry sky would have looked on June 19, 1889. The similarities were striking and showed that van Gogh's "morning star," which he wrote about in a letter to his brother, was actually the planet Venus.

In His Whole Life, Van Gogh Only Sold One Or Two Paintings, And Neither Of Them Was The Starry Night.

van gogh the starry night The much less famous The Red Vineyard at Arles with wheat fields was the one that was definitely sold. It was finished in November 1888, before the mental breakdown that sent him to the asylum. Anna Boch, a Belgian artist and collector, bought it at the Les three quarters show in 1890 for 400 francs. This old painting is now on display in Moscow at the Pushkin Museum of Modern Art. But there is proof that van Gogh sold a second painting. In his biography of the artist, historian Marc Edo Tralbaut wrote about a letter from Vincent van Gogh's brother Theo that said one of his self-portraits had been sold to an art dealer in London. [amazon box="B08B63VQMQ"]

This Was Not The First Starry Night Painting

You might be surprised to learn that the artist who created van Gogh the Starry Night was not, in fact, named Vincent van Gogh. No, the true painter behind this work of art was one Mr. Paul Gauguin, a French post-Impressionist who lived in the late 1800s. However, Vincent van Gogh create another painting with a similar title.  It is this one that is commonly mistaken for being the original. So why is this? Well, van Gogh's version of The Starry Night is far more iconic and well-known than Gauguin's, thanks in part to its unique and instantly recognizable style. Additionally, van Gogh's painting is often mistakenly credited as being the first of its kind, when in reality it was things Paul Gauguin that came first. But regardless of who actually created it, The Starry Night remains one of the most beloved and influential paintings in all of history.

It Was Originally About A Portrait Of Him

van gogh depicted individual drawing style Van Gogh the starry night is one of the most iconic paintings in the world. Painted by van Gogh the starry night while he was in an asylum, the work depicts his view of the scenes from his window. He is a Post-Impressionist style. The painting also incorporates elements of Pointillism and Impressionism. The result is a masterpiece that has captivated viewers for centuries. Interestingly, he originally intended the painting to be an oil on canvas portrait. However, he ultimately decided to depict the night sky instead, believing that it would be more representative of his state of mind. Today, "The Starry Night"1899 is one of the most recognizable and beloved works of art in the world.

Depicts Mathematical Expression Of Turbulence in Natural Phenomena

Jose Luis Aragon, a physicist, compared the turbulent play of light and dark in works like "Starry Night" to the mathematical expression of turbulence in natural phenomena like whirlpools and air streams. He discovered that they were nearly identical. This mathematical parallel can also be found in two other Vincent Van Gogh's paintings from 1890, Wheat Field with Crows and Road with Cypress and Star. Aragon believes that Vincent Van Gogh created these works during periods of extreme mental agitation. Therefore he was uniquely able to communicate that agitation through precise gradations of luminescence.

Theo's Wife Bought The Starry Night Twice.

After he died in 1890, his brother Theo got all of his works. But when he died in the fall of 1891, Starry Night 1889 and many other paintings went to his wife, Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger. Van Gogh-Bonger was the one who put together and edited the same letter for publication. She makes him famous after his death by promoting his work and putting on exhibitions of it. In 1900, van Gogh-Bonger sold Starry Night to the French poet Julien Leclerq.  He quickly sold it to the Post-Impressionist artist Émile Schuffenecker. Six years later, she went back to Schuffenecker and bought the painting back. She give it to the Oldenzeel Gallery in Rotterdam Museum of Modern Art. [amazon box="B08ZCQG1PX"]

Because Of Lillie P. Bliss, The Starry Night Now Lives In Modern Art New York.

Bliss was the daughter of a wealthy textile merchant. In the early 20th century, she was one of the most important collectors of modern art. She helped start the Museum of Modern Art in New York City with Mary Quinn Sullivan and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Lillie P. Bliss Bequest gave most of her permanent collection to MoMA acquired after she died in 1931. This gave the museum's collection its core in the middle of the Great Depression. In 1941, Museum of Modern Art bought Starry Night by selling three pieces from Bliss's impressive collection.

The Meaning Behind the Big Cypress Tree

van gogh's imagination Experts of "Starry Night" focus on the cypress trees in the foreground. It as a symbol of death and of Van Gogh's eventual suicide. But the cypress also stands for eternal life.  In the painting, the tree reaches up into the sky, creating a direct connection between the earth and the sky. The artist may have been saying more about hope than most people think.  This optimistic view of the cypress's meaning comes from a letter the artist wrote to his brother. He compared death to a train that goes to the stars.

Frequently Asked Questions:

richly colored cypress tree olive trees How much does a Starry Night 1889 cost? They sell this particular version of "The Starry Night"1889 for $74.98 million in 2013. When was the Starry Night 1889 created? Van Gogh painted "Starry Night" 1889 while he was staying at an asylum in Saint-Rémy, Southern France. What is the size of the Starry Night 1889 oil on canvas? The painting is 72 cm × 92 cm (28 in × 36 in) oil on canvas. Did he use a brush or palette knife? He used a palette knife to create thick layers of paint on new canvases. His style takes a years to master How many oil on canvas portraits did he paint? He painted 43 self-portraits over the course of three years.  
Back to blog