Quest to Learn Art: Top 20 Paintings in the World. Part 1: "The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh

My lack of knowledge in Art has always bothered me. I could never understood what I was looking at: whether it was a priceless artifact or worthless landscape painting. I feel Steemit is my chance to explore and understand not only which paintings I should know and recognize, but also understand the significance behind each of them. Anyone who shares love and interest for paintings are welcome to join me on a journey from being complacent with limited knowledge in art to hopefully becoming somewhat competent in it.

Part 1: "The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh.

I feel everyone has seen this painting somewhere at least once in their life. There is undeniably something mesmerizing about it. I remember seeing this painting in MOMa and feeling baffled, I felt I was looking at something special, but my mind could not figure out the reason behind my awe. I was watching the painting with my mind blank, captivated and captured by its look. That feeling of emptiness in the face of magnificence left a dark mark on my memory of that day. Well not anymore!

Let's get obvious out of the way: Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night in June 1889. It is an oil on canvas painting and is said that this painting is a view out of Van Gogh’s asylum window.

Now get to business: Painting builds a contrast between the bright night sky and the silence of the village. The tree in the painting is a cypress tree which is typically found in graveyards. The tree portrays Van Gogh's perception of the inevitability of death and how close it is on Earth. Author uses shades of yellows, blues, and greens to send a sharp, deep emotion.

Vincent van Gogh was mentally severely ill when he painted The Starry Night. As a result, his brush strokes appear thick and prominent in the painting, contributing to a sense of drama, unrelenting rhythm. His emphasis on the organic shapes shows his search into the depths of the unknown beyond our knowledge. Death...

Van Gogh’s uses yellow and white colors for stars to draw the viewers attention to the sky. Perpendicular lines, on the other hand, the cypress tree and church tower gradually disintegrates the structure without sacrificing influential nighttime atmosphere portrayed in The Starry Night. The rich colors in Starry Nights portray Van Gogh's emotions and show his real love of night time, as well as, how he perceived the world around him especially at night.

Another interpretation of The Starry Night by Van Gogh is a depiction of hope. The bright shining stars can be viewed as a ray of hope as even in complete darkness, there is always a light to guide you. Van Gogh, being severely ill when he made this painting, could have portrayed a hope of a new life. Knowing that death is inevitable, he saw his remedy in the stars, they gave him his eternal peace.

This is the end of my first post, I hope it was as informative for my readers, as It was for me writing it. I will try to post every day and further explore the land of creativity and emotion in the name of ART.