Starry Night Response

I chose The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. I chose this painting because when I look at The Starry Night, I don’t just see the dark night sky, but rather the living, moving night air. It feels like how I feel late at night, when I can’t quite get to sleep, but also do not have enough clear consciousness to form full thoughts. A mixed feeling of weariness, yet full of life. It reminds me of a mind that won’t slow down, when everything feels so loud, but at the same time, you could hear a pin drop. 

The small village near the bottom of the painting has an essence of calmness, but also an odd sense of peculiarity. The more I look at the town, the more I feel as if it is familiar, however I cannot understand why. It also feels far away, like a place you can see but not fully reach. To add, I also like how the artist, Vincent van Gogh, placed emphasis on the church in many ways. The church is positioned directly in the middle of the painting, towards the bottom, it is the only building painted a grey-ish, blue-ish white, compared to the other buildings which are painted various darker tones meant to blend in more with the landscape. He also made the steeple exaggerated in size when compared to the other buildings and houses.

I think Vincent van Gogh was trying to depict what having very strong feelings that won’t go away feels like. This is because the sky is beautiful, but can also have an underlying emotion of overwhelming stress or sadness. It shows both beauty and struggle coexisting. Overall, I agree with this message that I believe Vincent van Gogh is portraying. I like how he isn’t afraid to show the messy or sorrowful sides of emotions. It tells the person seeing it that it is okay to feel a lot at once, because emotions can be powerful, complicated, and most importantly, real.