Vincent van Gogh was born as the son of a middle class family in 1853; his style of painting created a maelstrom of rejection, panic, and curiosity from the late 19th century public. The famous Van Gogh scholar named Zola previously stated that no other artist had ever exceeded Van Gogh; his immense popularity as a result of his insanely beautiful artworks made him a champion of the rejected artists who crafter genius masterpieces that are all timeless, hysterical, and eccentrically beautiful at the same time. (Naifeh and Smith Ch. 1, n.p.). Throughout history, Van Gogh is probably one of the most highly studied artists from the late 19th up to this age; people are drawn to his powerful artworks which conveys simplicity and unnaturalness, a trait that repulsed the art critics of the late 19th century yet widely accepted today as a talent meant for genius painters. Starry Starry Night (ca.1889) was the most popular painting he had ever created and perhaps the sequel to his painting Stars on the Rhone (ca. 1888). Both paintings have portrayed night landscapes dominated by beautiful stars. Throughout his life, Van Gogh was isolated and constantly rejected; he never succeeded in making a big name for himself in the art world; yet, in this modern era, the name Vincent van Gogh is incredibly famous throughout the world. Why did a man dubbed as a ‘lunatic’ throughout his lifetime created such wonderful and well-loved masterpieces? What is with the Starry Starry Night that makes people study more about the life of Van Gogh more than any other artists that lived prior to him? This essay proposes three arguments: Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night reflects the wabi-sabi or the Japanese aesthetic of simple appreciation of nature; the bold and bright colors he used in the painting reflects his fanaticism in his art, and finally, the painting exemplifies the transition of the late 19th century art from rigid realistic iconography to a dream-like expressionist perspective which allowed more liberties in exploring the recesses of the artist’s mind and their personality. The scholastic narratives written by Naifeh and Smith details the life of Vincent van Gogh based from the historical notes and letters of correspondence between Theo and Vincent. Vincent van Gogh’s early childhood was a tumultuous one; first, his mother rejected him especially concerning his drawings labeling him as worthless because most of his artworks never fascinated her like her son. The society labeled Van Gogh as a lunatic artist whose brush work resembled children’s doodles.
The Starry Starry Night is a landscape painting created when Van Gogh surrendered himself to the asylum in Arles. The painting depicts the outside of the asylum; on the right panel, rows of houses aligned altogether. Bright yellow stars and large sun decorate the vast blue night sky. On the left side of the painting, a lone cypress tree stood isolated from the majority of the objects in the painting; depicted standing from the mountain gazing on the world as the people fell into a deep slumber. The brush strokes repelled the artists of the late 19th century, since the art styles concerning that period were mostly centered on the realistic portrayals of the actual environment. In other words, the society in which Van Gogh lived was not yet ready for the drastic transition from an Idealist artwork towards a psychedelic artwork made by lunatics. The same approach was given towards the Impressionist painters wherein the initial approach by the Paris salon art critics were the iconography of the paintings did not resembled real people or images and only rough sketches of the subjects they were trying to portray. In this case, Van Gogh, a post-Impressionist painter was already a doomed case in the painting career. The main reason for this was the lack of realism and untamed brush strokes styles which repulsed the public. Furthermore, Theo noted that Vincent’s fanatical heart was the main reason for his brother’s suicide. The fanatical heart of Van Gogh was his obsession in his craft up to the point that he nearly forgot to take care of himself and spent his money in paying models and buying art supplies to satisfy his hunger for art. Theo’s words explained that when Vincent declared himself as a “fanatic” he was already paving his own road towards his passions. These passions lead many people to have mixed emotions and focused more on his ideals rather than pragmatic options. (Naifeh and Smith, “Prologue”). In addition, Van Gogh’s painting did not value the aesthetic appearance but rather he concentrated on how to express his turbulent emotions. His iconography of untamed brushwork contrasts the 19th century idealism which was to portray realistic subjects with delicate and transparent brushstrokes. The style of Van Gogh’s work was not fine art in a sense that it really does not exemplify fine arts because of its rough appearance; while the artists of his time concentrated on painting the desired images of the patrons, Van Gogh painted on his own will.
“Theo believed could anyone truly understand his brother’s stubbornly inner-driven art. This was his answer to all those who dismissed Vincent’s paintings or his letters as the rantings [sic] of the wretched, as most still did. Only by knowing Vincent “from the inside,” he insisted, could anyone hope to see his art as Vincent saw it, or Vincent felt it.” (Naifeh and Smith, “Prologue”).
What Theo van Gogh insisted in the first place was a chance for the society to examine Vincent van Gogh’s artwork based on the inner workings of his mind. However, only few people at that time had knowledge in terms of psychology which eventually became the reason for his brother’s demise as art critics dismissed the work and considered it as not worthy compared to the paintings of the other masters. Fanatical he may be, Van Gogh also idolized the works of the Japanese artists and in his letters he demonstrated his love for the Japanese prints explained that the beauty of their paintings lies on the simplicity of the iconography and the value for natural beauty, which is a great contrast to the more gaudy and elaborate art styles of the European art. Van Gogh’s fanatical appreciation of the Japanese art was reflected in his paintings. Like the Japanese art, his lines were swirly, untamed, and bolder. The iconography was flat and lacked the realistic approach the patrons craved for. As the late 19th century craved for realistic images of home sweet home, Vincent van Gogh desired individuality and the ability to express himself and his thoughts through paintings. (Gogh and Roskill 19-20). The Japanese aesthetic style of appreciating rustic beauty and age is clearly absorbed by Van Gogh. The simplicity of the Starry Starry Night as a landscape embodying tranquil scenery of the French countryside; in this painting, Van Gogh represented himself as the lone cypress tree standing atop the mountain. The mountain symbolizes the place of his asylum and the cypress himself. He alone, looking on to the wide village below his place, dotted with quaint charming old houses and pointed church spire. He purposely isolated himself due to the belief that he was insane that no one can appreciate his artwork other than his brother, Theo. In this respect, Van Gogh’s art was isolated from the art society because of its queer iconography. Previously, the artist painted what the people wanted and that was the images of domestic bliss and portraits of royalties done in a delicate manner of thin brush strokes and pastel colors. However, Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night was nothing like that. He only focused on expressing himself, as a lonely man isolated from the rest and gazing to the night sky with eyes full of hope that someday his paintings would be understood by the majority. His artwork was more focused on individuality rather than pleasing image. The Japanese aesthetics provided Van Gogh an outlet to release his inner frustrations and concentrate on natural beauty of the surroundings.
“Like the Romantics he admired, however, Vincent found danger as well as comfort in the immense impassivity of nature. One could both lose oneself in the immensity and feel oneself diminished; be both inspired and overwhelmed. For Vincent, nature would always have this double edge: it both consoled him in his loneliness and reminded him of his alienation from the world— especially a world where nature and family were so intimately intertwined.” (Naifeh and Smith, Ch. 3, n.p.).
For Van Gogh artistic expression matters most especially since art reflects the inner mind of the artist. This is the quality that makes his paintings ‘communicate’ with the soul of the audiences since his emotions represented by the graceful swirl of lines, bright colors, and the simplicity of the iconography suggests that Vincent van Gogh was an artist of his own, the one who did not allowed the rejection of the society to diminish his passions towards self-expression. Eventually, the styles he used throughout his paintings became the basis for the style known as Expressionism wherein the iconography was depicted as grotesque, unnatural, and often with violent color schemes. The transition of the 19th century from the idealistic notions of art became the footing of the newer art movements that would later reject the older art styles from the past. As a conclusion, Van Gogh’s artwork reflects his attitude towards the environment as a place of solitude and his personality as a simple man with creative mind that was way too advanced for his time. It was his ingenuity and passion for self-expression that made Starry Starry Night one of the most expensive and beloved paintings in the world.
WORKS CITED
Gogh, Vincent van and Mark Roskill. The Letters of Vincent van Gogh. New York: Atheneum, 1967. Web. Internet Archive.
Naifeh, Steven and Gregory White Smith. Van Gogh: The Life. New York: Random House, 2011. Kindle Book.
