The Starry Night, an oil painting created by Vincent van Gogh in June 1889, features an impressionistic view out the window of the psychiatric hospital where he voluntarily stayed for nearly a year after suffering a mental breakdown. Vincent van Gogh’s art was not commercially successful in his lifetime, but his works today now bring millions of dollars at art auctions around the world.
Spend a quiet minute or two looking at the artwork. Then, describe what you see. What part stands out the most?
Write two adjectives that describe the feeling, mood, or atmosphere created in this painting.
Choose a color or element that catches your eye and explain a symbolic meaning that item/element could hold.
Thinking about the subject matter, mood, and symbolic element/s you’ve noticed, what’s a reasonable message this painting delivers to the viewer?
This painting was created from the viewpoint of a person looking down at a village in the distance. How does this perspective impact the message of the painting?
If you were asked by Vincent van Gogh’s representative to give this painting a new name, what name would you choose? Explain your reasoning.
The part that stands out the most is the celestial vortex itself. The powerful, thick, visible brushstrokes create an overwhelming sense of energy and motion in the sky, making it feel alive and almost overwhelming compared to the quiet, rigid structure of the village below.
Mood and Atmosphere
Turbulent: Describing the violent, energetic, and swirling motion of the sky, suggesting an internal conflict or mental storm.
Awe-Inspiring: Reflecting the intense beauty and overwhelming scale of the cosmos depicted, contrasting human smallness with universal immensity.
Symbolic Color/Element
The element that catches my eye is the Cypress Tree in the foreground.
Symbolic Meaning: Cypress trees are traditionally associated with mourning and death in Southern Europe. Given the context of the painting—Van Gogh being in an asylum and preoccupied with mortality—the dark, sweeping, ascending form of the tree can symbolize the ever-present thought of death or the artist’s yearning to escape the earthly realm and find peace in the spiritual, infinite expanse of the stars.
Sample Answer
That's a wonderful approach to analyzing such an iconic piece of art. The Starry Night is indeed rich with emotion and perspective.
🎨 Analysis of The Starry Night
Description and Key Feature
What I see is a swirling, dynamic night sky dominating the canvas above a serene, deep blue and black village nestled in a valley. The sky is filled with large, luminous, concentric circles of yellow, white, and blue paint that depict eleven massive stars and a crescent moon, all appearing to spin in a heavenly vortex. To the left, a dark, flame-like cypress tree rises dramatically from the foreground, reaching toward the turbulent sky, acting as a visual bridge between the earth and the heavens.