"Starry Night"

1889

Vincent Van Gough was heavily influenced by Seurat's idea of divisionism.  He let the two stylistic techniques of divisionism and Impressionism mold and transform his style of painting.  Instead of painting clusters of dots, Van Gough stretched out his brush strokes and created lines that give the painting "The Starry Night" its life and energy.  The wonderful movement conveyed in this piece is created by these multi-directional dashes/lines.  The lines of the sky oppose each other, insinuating that there is movement in the sky; perhaps wind or a storm on its way. The counterbalance of lines and the diagonal axis created from one end of the sky to the other helps ground the image and direct our focus.  The movement of the lines (the direction of which they were laid down) works to balance the piece also.  Triangles are created by the directions of the flowing lines, for example, look at the dark ominous looking tree/bush in the foreground, it is made of fairly vertical lines.  Now look at the lines of the sky directly to the left of the tree, they are horizontal lines, which then takes out eye to the curving lines of the clouds and then the moon.  This triangle really pleases the eye and also balances the composition.  By applying the paint so thickly, a beautiful texture and new sense of depth is made.  This texture also contributes to the momentum of the "Starry Night."
Light is a very important part of this painting as well.  Bright yellows surround and fill the stars, which makes it looks as though they are glowing and pulsating.  The light is not realistically painted but there was no purpose for it to be.  Instead it is very dramatic and intense, conveying the artist's emotional state. "Starry Night" is recognized as one of the first Expressionistic paintings, because the intensity of the artist's emotion is more important than the actual appearance of things.
There is high energy and ambiguity.  When I look at this painting, I do not feel happy or sad, I just get excited!  I sense  there is something going on, things are about to change, wind is blowing.  The energy and life of this piece feels most like excitement and inspiration to me.  You get the feeling that it's breathing.