Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night

by Richard Thomson (Contributor)

Instantly recognizable as one of the most iconic images of modern culture, Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" draws thousands of visitors every day at The Museum of Modern Art. Yet few are familiar with the story behind this unlikely masterpiece, envisioned and executed by Van Gogh during his stay at a mental hospital in Saint-Rémy. "The Starry Night" is no ordinary landscape painting, with its surging forces, resonant chromatics and mysterious shapes that reflect Van Gogh's unique state of mind at the time. In this informative volume--the latest in a series on favorite artists and important works in MoMA's collection--distinguished art historian Richard Thomson provides an overview of the painting within the context of its creation, bringing together Van Gogh's correspondence regarding the painting and the Parisian art scene of his time with an in-depth exploration of his technique and style. Highlighting significant details not easily visible at first glance, and illustrated with dozens of comparable works, Vincent van The Starry Night is an indispensable guide to one of the most famous paintings of the nineteenth century.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sabrina]

Loved the analysis, it made me see things in the Starry Night that I never realized before.
The rest was a bit chaotic though.
Would definitely recommend if you want to do a quick deep dive into this mesmerising painting!

[Wilde Sky]

This book provides a short biography of a prominent artist and discusses one of his famous pieces.

This was a very short book, so was pretty light on detail. Some of the artworks reproduced were stunning.

[Shahriyar]

Astrophysicist Janna Levin share her thoughts on Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night. Stargazing in the galleries with Levin is a treat. A professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, she spends her time thinking about black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitational waves in the shape of space-time. Among her several books, Black Hole Blues and Other Songs focuses on scientists’ efforts to record the sounds of space. But for Levin, art galleries are as familiar as galaxies; she has written about the arts, and is the director of science at Pioneer Works, an experimental interdisciplinary art space in Brooklyn.
Janna Levin brings her celestial expertise to Vincent van Gogh’s star-filled vision, in conversation with senior curator of Drawing and Prints Jodi Hauptman. Levin helps us see how certain features of the night sky, including “turbulent air,” the light from a star, and the planet Venus, are rendered visible by Van Gogh’s brush. She also points out that her approach is not so different from Van Gogh’s: “People who observe the world, whether they are artists or scientists, are always on the cusp of what they see and then what is internal

[Chinh Vũ]

A very short book from Modern Art & Ideas course on Coursera explaining why Starry Night has become so famous and universal to everyone. Its content is a nice combination of Van Gogh’s biography and the interpretation of the painting’s details.
There is an explicit message that I find it quite meaningful: In the end, what an artist is looking for when contemplating his painting is consolation.

[X]

Read for free taking the Museum of Modern Art's free "modern art and ideas" course on Coursera.

[Lino Paul]

...Junio, 1889. Vincent Van Gogh encerrado voluntaramiente en Saint-Remy, criticado por su hermano Theo, agobiado por una búsqueda de estilo, poco mas de un año antes de su suicidio...

Curioso saber que una de las pinturas mas famosas de Van Gogh no le satisfizo a su autor una vez terminada...

[parissaa Jafari]

کتابی مصور در مورد ونسان ون گوگ و بیماری و آثارش