Category: Art (Page 9 of 9)

A Personal Reaction to Vincent Van Gogh’s THE STARRY NIGHT

December 4, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

The next—sorry to all of you who were hoping it would be the last—installment of the over analyzation of Van Gogh’s paintings features The Starry Night at the Yale Art Gallery. (See “A New Perspective on the Classic Van Gogh Painting SUNFLOWERS” and “A Study of Vincent Van Gogh’s THE NIGHT CAFE” for others.)

My initial reaction to The Starry Night was that it is, in a word, small. Now, Van Gogh is known as an impressionist who created relatively small works, but really, The Starry Night isn’t much bigger than the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. My theory is that because Van Gogh was so poor most of his life, he didn’t have the money to buy enough paint for larger paintings. If you’ve ever seen one of his works in person, you can see that he really did glob the paint on the canvas. I mean, we’re talking about a guy who couldn’t afford to buy food (and supposedly ate paint for nourishment on occasion), so it’s no surprise his masterpieces are kind of small.

The colors of this painting didn’t strike me the same way the colors of Sunflowers eventually did. The setup of the display didn’t really allow viewers to get too far away from the painting, so that could have had something to do with it (I had to get three rooms away from Sunflowers to see it properly). Still, I had been hoping the yellow of the swirling stars would pop off the dark blue sky a bit more. The painting was mounted on a yellow wall, and this may have altered the colors as well. At the very least, I found the wall distracting.

I asked the usher about the wall, and he said something about how a lot of thought went into choosing the background color, blah, blah blah (I don’t think he really had any idea why it was yellow)! The background may have actually taken away from the way the stars were supposed to pop off the blue sky. My experience with Sunflowers taught me that an unlikely color (like one not in the painting or one that is just hinted at) might work better than one that is already dominant.

This thought led me to take a closer look at the other featured painting called Cypresses. This is a view of the same cypress trees that are in The Starry Night, but it shows them during the day and in a slightly different viewpoint. These colors really popped off the canvas (much like the colors of A Wheatfield, with Cypresses did when I saw it in The National Gallery in London). Cypresses was mounted on a yellow wall as well, and frankly it didn’t do much for it at all. I decided a pale pink wall would’ve really amped up the colors. (I mentioned this to a pair of ladies who were also at the exhibit, and they wholeheartedly agreed with me.)

Then I began to wonder how The Starry Night would look with a pale pink background or even an off-white one. Colors that aren’t really in the painting, but ones that wouldn’t match or clash with it, ones that wouldn’t distract me so much, ones that would have made for a much more subtle background. Too bad I’ll never know…unless The Musuem of Modern Art in N.Y.C. has it on a pale pink background (I doubt it!).

Now, one of my favorite things about The Starry Night is the little village down the hill in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting. It’s dark out, but there’s a few lights shining from the village, indicating a few folks are still up and about. Whenever I see prints of The Starry Night, the village seems so alive to me. I can almost hear the sounds of it echoing up the hill. Seeing this painting in person took a little away from the liveliness of the village.

I’m not criticizing Van Gogh for this because I think it had to do more with the way the painting was framed; you could see the edges of the painting, where the paint ends and the canvas shows. I’m not sure why someone would frame it like that. Maybe so none of the painted part was covered at all. It disappointed me, though. Instead of feeling like I was really there myself—or maybe peering out a window from a little cottage up on the hill—I was just looking at a painting. It took a little of the magic out of it.

Still, the painting was amazing. I definitely glad I finally saw it in person. I can’t wait to see more Van Gogh works. I’ll even settle for going to London again to see Sunflowers!

A Study of Vincent Van Gogh’s THE NIGHT CAFE

November 21, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

So here it is (finally!): the beginning of a follow-up to this post about Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting. You didn’t think I had forgotten, did you? Sometimes I just need a little time to ruminate/procrastinate before the literary genius is released.

Anyway, I finally visited the Yale University Art Gallery to see the special Van Gogh exhibit, which included The Starry Night, in the Modern and Contemporary Art section.

This area is also home to my very favorite Van Gogh painting The Night Café. The bright reds, greens, and yellows are almost harsh to the eyes; the colors both contrast and compliment the lonely, ghostly themes of the painting. At first glance, the painting is simple, but the more you look at it, the more you notice the odd proportions and angles of the room and its contents.

The people are hunched over. The ceiling lamps mimic stars, but they don’t have the same warmth of the stars in Van Gogh’s night skies. The bouquet at the far end of the room is in full bloom, but behind it the table is full of amber bottles of liquor. The clock reads that it’s very early in the morning as if the inhabitants of the painting have nothing worth going home to. The drape in the back doorway falls in the shape of an eerie figure, who is watching—maybe judging—the others in the room. I could go on forever about this painting (clearly I’ve spent way too much time thinking about it).

It was to this standard of (over) thinking that The Starry Night was held. Alas, I must leave you with a cliffhanger here as I ruminate/procrastinate a little more! I know, the suspense created by impressionist art is overwhelming you, isn’t it?

A New Perspective on the Classic Van Gogh Painting SUNFLOWERS

July 10, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

Tomorrow I’m going to see a special Vincent Van Gogh exhibit at the Yale Art Gallery that features two of his most famous paintings, Cypresses and The Starry Night. Van Gogh happens to be my favorite artist.

The last time I saw a Van Gogh painting in person was in London’s National Gallery (yup, we’re back to London). I didn’t have high expectations when I first went there because I tend to prefer Van Gogh’s night and tree paintings to his sunflower ones, and the featured painting there is a still life of sunflowers in a vase, aptly called Sunflowers.

On my first visit to the gallery, Sunflowers had been moved from its usual spot to where the temporary exhibits usually are; that means it was stuck downstairs in the corner of the building. This area is different than the rest of the gallery because the rooms are much smaller and the walls are all painted with bright or dark colors–colours if you’re from London–instead of the typical beige.

The gallery was very busy that day. I squeezed my way into the tiny room with the painting. Temporary ropes had been set up all around the bottom edge of the wall so you couldn’t get close enough to touch the paintings. My first impression of Sunflowers was that it was…well…yellow. I got as close as I could in order to see the swirling brush strokes. Then I looked at it from one corner of the room, from the back center of the room, and finally the other corner of the room.

I left the Van Gogh room to check out some Monet paintings, and then came back for another look. My second impression was that it wasn’t as eye-catching as the painting A Wheatfield, with Cypresses. The blue-green swirls in the sky against the wheat-colored grass and the dark-green cypress trees really popped off the canvas. Sunflowers was still so…yellow.

Feeling very disappointed despite my low expectations, I went and found a bench so I could write about my experience. I was two rooms away from Sunflowers, but I caught a glimpse of it through the open doorways. This third, unexpected view was impressive. I actually think it really did take my breath away for a minute. The bright yellow background glowed as if the very sun shone in from behind. I’ve never seen paint take on such a life of its own. I didn’t even know paint could do that. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

Then I noticed how all the people who went to look at Sunflowers got real close to it, like I had, only to walk away after a few minutes without a glance back. I wanted to stand on the bench and shout, “You’re looking at it all wrong! Come over here and look!” Naturally I didn’t do that. I wanted to be able to come back, and shouting in a gallery is a good way to get banned from it.

It took me more than three viewings and a two-room distance to see Sunflowers in the right light. All those people were looking but not really seeing it. I wondered what else I might have looked at only to see it from the wrong perspective. I sat and wrote and thought. Then a man came and sat next to me. He was there a few minutes before I glanced at him. Just as I did, he caught sight of the painting. His expression told me that he was having the same moment I had just had.

I couldn’t help myself; I had to say something to him. He thought I was a student (no surprise there), but it was great to share the experience. At least one other human in the whole gallery-of-oblivious-people got it. Oh well, their loss. I’m trying to keep my expectations low for the Yale exhibit–I hate being disappointed. I mean, how many unbelievable pieces of art can one guy paint? I’ll let you know!