In 1889, Van Gogh had lost his senses, again. After a dispute vehemently with Gauguin, he cut off one ear. Then, he was sent to the madhouse. He was stay there about one year. Meanwhile, he still painted hard, and he completed more than one hundred and fifty oil paintings and one hundred charcoal drawings in the madhouse. His paintings already tented to expressionism. In his paintings, some rising and falling patterns look like the fire and the sea waves, full of the spirit of sentimental and illusion.
“The starry night” is a masterpiece in that time. This painting shows a highly exaggerated and very impressive night sky. The curled rotating cloud, the visional stars and the incredible orange-yellow moon. I think the painter seen this vision maybe is in the illusion and dizzy. Also the picture shows two kinds of line style, first one is distorted long line, other is broken short line, two lines interaction to each other, make the tableau present the blinding and fantasy. In terms of composition, the disturbance of the sky and tranquility of the village are in sharp contrast. The flame and the transverse mountains are making a visual balance. The reddish-brown flame look like want to escape from the painting, but the distance from the top of painting to the flame is a kind of space the flame cannot escape.
In this painting, the rich and powerful pigments become to a scene between the sky and the earth. The landscape seems being mad, the moon and the cloud and the stars are revolve, this reflecting the restless emotion of the painter and intoxicate of the illusion world.
Dear prof,
ReplyDeletemy name is yuting huang, not Yunting Nuang, just let you know. thank you so much to help me posted this.