Starry Starry Night

When Don McLean wrote his famous 1971 song Vincent, he opened with the line “Starry Starry Night”. This was of course a direct reference to the 1889 Van Gogh painting “The Starry Night”. Among the best loved paintings of Van Gogh, “The Starry Night” is today the most searched of his works on the internet and by many considered his greatest accomplishment.

Van Gogh was himself not initially thrilled with the painting. As he wrote to his brother Theo in a letter:
“The first four canvases are studies without the effect of a whole that the others have . . . The olives with white clouds and background of mountains, also the moonrise and the night effect, these are exaggerations from the point of view of arrangement, their lines are warped as that of old wood.”

However, despite his own initial reservations to the painting, the roaring sky swirling over the quiet village provided plenty of inspiration for others. From Anne Sexton’s poem “The Starry Night” to Giancarlo Scalia’s piano composition “The Starry Night”, the inspiration provided by the painting has been universal and massive.

The original “The Starry Night” can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It should inspire a few visits and visitors as well.

The early works of Van Gogh

The works of Van Gogh are among other justly famous for the vivid use of color by the artist. Indeed, from his famous Sunflowers to “The Night Café” and Wheatfield with Crows”, the use of strong colors throughout is defining for his work. Yet, if one looks at the early works of Van Gogh were not dominated by such strong colors. Rather, in the period 1883 – 1886 when Van Gogh was just beginning to paint using oil colors, his work was more dominated by dark and somber earthy tones. His main subject in this period was the peasants of the Dutch countryside and the hard life they led. Van Gogh wanted to portray this life and contrast it with the life emerging in the cities. 

The main work of this period is also a good example of Van Gogh paintings during this period. Thus, “The Potato Eaters” from 1885 shows a group of peasants sitting together in the evening having some food. The colors are dark, the people unattractive and the realism of the scene uncanny. The earthy tones of this period of work certainly dominate the painting. The subject focus is on the peasant life and its hardships, as was indeed general for the period.

Van Gogh also produced some other works of note during this period. This includes works life “Still Life with Straw Hat and Pipe” as well as “Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette”, both of which we have previously discussed on this blog. They all exemplify the early mastery of Van Gogh, yet as we know now, there was so much more to come.

The Church Auvers

One of the more haunting images created by Vincent Van Gogh is The Church Auvers. Painted by Van Gogh during his time in Auvers Sur Oise, it was painted from memory and is part of his “Memories from the North” series.

In the painting, we see the sun shine generously on the area n the front of the painting. Here a road runs and lush green plant life surrounds it. However, as we move closer to the church, the sun disappears. The church and the area around it seem to be in a shade of its own making, as no light is reflected or is able to enter this area. Additionally, the church building itself seems warped, with roof and beams all seemingly non-strait. Behind the church, the sky looks menacing. This is re-enforced by the thick brush strokes of Van Gogh which helps create a sense of movement in the sky above. The road in front of the church also splits into two. This motive of diverging paths was also seen in Wheatfield with Crows, and can probably be said to reflect the choices Van Gogh himself saw himself as facing as his sanity battled for control of his soul.

The depiction of The Church in Auvers also bear vitness to the importance of Van Gogh to the coming expressionist and modern art movements. The church is painted from memory but it is clearly not warped like this on reality. However, Van Gogh chooses to give it a warped appearance with forbidding sky in the background in order to give the viewer a gloomy impression of the place. This direct influencing on of the view, at the cost of authenticity in the depiction, inspired the expressionist movement, just like the choice of color over line further led to modern art.

The Church in Auvers can today be found at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France.

The Potato Eaters

Van Gogh painted the work “The Potato Eaters” in 1885 while in Nuenen in Holland, you can find reproduction paintings of The Potato Eaters at Art Reproductions. The painting depicts a number of peasants sitting around in the evening eating potatoes in the light of a small lamp. There has been no work done to beautify the scene or light up the mood. Rather, the depiction is thoroughly realistic and in some cases and people depicted are even ugly. This is completely in line with Van Goghs own thinking about this painting. As he wrote about it:

"You see, I really have wanted to make it so that people get the idea that these folk, who are eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp, have tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labour and — that they have thus honestly earned their food. I wanted it to give the idea of a wholly different way of life from ours — civilized people. So I certainly don’t want everyone just to admire it or approve of it without knowing why."
The Potato Eaters divert sharply from later Van Gogh works in its use of colors. The bright and bold use of colors that was to become Van Gogh’s trademark later is thus no apparent in this work.

Today, The Potato Eaters can be found at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

Series of Sunflowers by Van Goh

Van Gogh mostly varied the subjects of his paintings. While he might re-use e.g. the elements of a starry night in a few paintings, the subjects of these paintings were not the same. He did not often repeat or return to a motive. While he did paint himself on numerous occasions, it was at least with different looks and clothes.

However, one motive he did do over and over again. Maybe that is why this one subject has become more tied to Van Gogh Paintings than any other subject. I am of course talking about his Sunflowers. In late 1888 and early 1889, Van Gogh painted two series of Sunflowers. These have later emerged as some of the artists most celebrated work, indeed as some of the most valuable pieces of art in the world. When Christies sold one in 1987 for USD 40 million, it was thus a record sum for a painting at the time.

And it is easy to see the appeal of the Sunflowers by Van Gogh. The colors are bright and appealing, the flowers rich and alive, the artists own touch so deep as to make the Sunflowers almost reach out of the painting towards you. They are pretty to look at but at the same time hide many details that only lend themselves upon closer examination. They are truly masterpieces of the post-impressionist era.

A Portrait of Dr. Gachet

Dr. Paul Gachet was the physician taking care of Vincent van Gogh in the last months of his life. In June of 1890, Van Gogh painted two portraits of Dr. Gachet. The motive of the portraits is identical. The doctor is sitting at a table, leaning heavily on this right arm. He has an expression of slight abandon on his face as he stared into the air. He has a foxglove flower in his hand, a flower from which digitalis can be extracted in order to treat heart disease. This helps identify him as a doctor. In the far background, and hills can be made out.


The coloring of the two versions differs significantly. In the first version, the coloring is sharper, more contrast driven and leaves an impression of melancholy. The second version is more uniform in its coloring, with blue being the dominant color, only really challenged by the red of the table cloth. It also has a more depressed feel to it, a somber loss of purpose.

Previously to executing these paintings, Van Gogh has talked about the kind of portraits he would like to make, about how they had to be with the thought, and the soul of the model in it. Upon completing the first version, Van Gogh wrote to his brother about the painting:

“I've done the portrait of M. Gachet with a melancholy expression, which might well seem like a grimace to those who see it... Sad but gentle, yet clear and intelligent, that is how many portraits ought to be done... There are modern heads that may be looked at for a long time, and that may perhaps be looked back on with longing a hundred years later.”

The first version of Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold in 1990 for USD 82.5 million. It is currently in a private collection. The second version is currently on display at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.