Vincent Van Gogh has always been one of my favorite artists. From his sunflower paintings all the way to his very own portrait, I think all his artwork has so much visual weight to themselves. I have decided to take his artwork “starry night”, a piece that gives me the most inspiration, and create a piece off of my own inspiration. My inspiration comes more from how the painting was made rather than the actual painting. I find it very interesting that the painting was made from the window of his asylum bedroom in Arles, France. It makes me wonder what he was going through during that period when he painted the piece and what he truly saw in the asylum.
I started with keeping a rhythm in my own piece as Van Gough gave his original. The original shows a circling motion in the night sky while also making sure all lines flowed in a pattern. I used oil pastels for my own artwork, which seemed difficult for myself, as I normally do not use oil pastels. I decided to draw the stars larger and rounder than Van Gogh’s with giving my dark night sky more density in the artwork. The stars are different shades of yellow, while the majority of them begin to fade into a different color such as orange, purple, or red. The black pastel house has been drawn to represent the same black castle Van Gogh had painted in his original artwork. I would like to add more detail, but not too much, to the piece just to give others something more to look at.
I plan to add hills and small homes at the bottom of the picture, while also smoothing out the lines with a white pastel. I would like the painting to have a smooth effect, yet also be dynamic. Unlike the original artwork, I would like to keep more of a simplicity to my own piece by leaving out trees, bushes, and extra colors. I think keeping my own piece simple could change the way many people think about Starry Night. My pastel work will be easier to take in because there won’t be so much to truly look at, in a good way, of coarse.
Vincent Van Gogh was born the oldest child to Theodorus Van Gogh and Anna Cornelia Carbentus March 30, 1853 in a small town called Groot-Zundert in Holland. He was named after his grandfather and uncle who were both very much involved with religion and art along with the rest of the family. He began drawing as a serious child, began to paint in his early twenties, and continued up until adulthood. In one decade, Van Gogh made over 2,100 pieces of artworks that include paintings, drawings, sketches, and prints. Van Gogh’s artwork ranged from landscapes to portraits that included wheat fields, flowers, houses, and other scenery.
In 1869, Van Gogh’s uncle Vincent helped him get a position with the art dealer, Gouple & Cie, who then transferred him to London, England. During this time, Van Gogh was noted to be at his happiest. He was becoming very successful and had just fallen in love. Before it could last any longer, Van Gogh was rejected from his love and then lost his job soon after. He returned home and began working unpaid as a supply teacher at a local boarding school overlooking a harbor in Rumsgate. While working, he would draw the view from the school. Vincent went on to travel several other countries and cities in his lifetime, which would eventually, led him to Arles.
One of Van Gogh’s first paintings, The Potato Eaters, was created in 1885 and consisted mostly of subtle earth-tone colors. During that time, Van Gogh was living very frugal, studying the gospel, while also still looking for love while also devoting all his time and effort into his artwork, which can explain the dreary tones of The Potato Eaters. For the rest of his life, Van Gogh would continue to live poor and devote his life into his paintings.
After living with his brother that was very close to him, his brother suggested he paint in brighter colors to attract other people to his art, Van Gogh began to see a change in not only his style, but also his success after he took his brothers advice. He moved to Paris, France and began to take on the style his brother suggested for him and attempt to make it in the French art scene. That style would someday make him famous, but he would never live to see the day.
Although Van Gogh began communicating and befriending several professional artists while also getting a lot of attention in his own artwork, he was still unable to sell any artwork her had made in the last years in Paris. Van Gogh had dreams to colonize the artists into one place and went to Arles, France to do that with a good friend Gauguin. While working on his artwork in Arles, Vincent Van Gogh plunged into his most creative and productive stage there, constantly creating amazing artwork effortlessly, such as his famous painting, “Sunflowers”
Although Van Gogh was at his own creative peek, it was a very hard time in his life and eventually, he begun to visit hospitals for mental illness and physical decline in his health. After painting and fighting for his life in the following 10 years, Vincent eventually took his own life on July 29, 1890 by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one ever found the gun he used, but still believe it was suicide. Unfortunately, no one truly was able to appreciate his work while he was alive and would take several decades before anyone would realize what genius they had lost and how much his work was worth in their own eyes. By the time Van Gogh passed, he had only sold one piece of artwork in the entire 37 years he was alive to see.