“The Starry Night,” Musings of Mortality

                               

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/300px-Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

            Death is highly debated among many religions today.  Some religions believe in reincarnation, while others believe in the ascension to heaven or the condemnation to hell.  While many fear death, Vincent van Gogh welcomed death to the point where he took his own life.  Approximately a year before his death, Van Gogh checked himself into a mental institution because he had attacked himself twice in approximately a year.  The first act of self-mutilation is famous because Van Gogh removed his own ear.  The second attack is much less well known but led to Van Gogh’s self-admission into a mental institution.  Van Gogh’s self-mutilations and time at the mental institution indicate his declining mental state.  At his time of death, Van Gogh desired to push past human limitations such as his ailing mental health.  In “The Shower and the Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor in the Art of Vincent van Gogh,” Judy Sund argues that the darkened edge of the town and the dark Cyprus tell onlookers that “The Starry Night” displays Van Gogh’s poor state of mental health and desire for a life in which he is a superior being.

            The darkened edge of the town “suggests the limits of earthly life” (Sund).  At this point in his life, Van Gogh was contemplating his own demise and had cut off his own ear.  Van Gogh’s discontent with his bodily constraints is obviously seen in the removal of his ear.  The contrast between the brightness in the night sky and the darkness of the town make Van Gogh’s discontent apparent in his art.  The night sky remains bright as if there is hope and health beyond this world while the town below remains dark to symbolize issues with life on earth such as the declining mental and physical abilities that come with age.  This sharp contrast creates a painful feeling inside the viewer.  The depiction of the night sky and the town also contain very exaggerated brush strokes.  These exaggerated brush strokes stress the pain that exists on earth.  These overstressed brush strokes also serve to stretch the grandeur that may be experienced after death.  These exaggerations make the onlooker want to push past the dark town just as Van Gogh wanted to push past the limitations of life towards the more limitless unknown.

            The dark Cyprus is a Mediterranean memento mori.  Memento mori is Latin for remember your mortality.  The large size of the Cyprus in comparison to the rest of the painting allows the viewer to become overwhelmingly aware of his or her physical limitations.  The gigantic Cyprus forces the viewer to feel very small in a world that is very broad.  As the Cyprus pushes towards the night sky, it is clear that Van Gogh was aware of his own physical struggles and that soon they would push him towards the heavens just as the Cyprus pushes towards the great beyond.  This is validated in Van Gogh’s life since soon after checking himself into a mental hospital, Van Gogh claimed his own life.  This shows that his poor mental health eventually drove him to take his own life in the hopes of living under improved existence on the “other side.”

            Judy Sund acutely points out Vincent van Gogh’s deep emotional turmoil through observations of Van Gogh’s famous painting, “The Starry Night.”  Van Gogh’s use of exaggerated brush strokes, contrast between the dark town and the lighter night sky, and utilization of the Cyprus as a memento mori convey his longing for death to the viewers.  Van Gogh desired to become a superior being and live a better life in the after-life while he painted one of his most famous paintings that displays his deteriorating mental health.

Citations:

Sund, Judy. "The Sower And The Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor In The Art Of Vincent Van Gogh." Art Bulletin 70.(1988): 660-676. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Apr. 2012.