STARRY NIGHT OVER THE RHONE
“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream…”
The first time I saw this painting (through the power of the internet of course, you are welcome to take me to Paris if you want me to see it physically) I was really captivated by the powerful expression of the night. I’ve always been fascinated by the night, Edo roots and all probably a contributory factor, so of course I was naturally drawn to this painting. It beautifully captures the mysterious nature of darkness, the simplistic beauty of stars, the calmness of the water and the exotic beauty of the night.
Starry Night Over the Rhone is an 1888 painting by Vincent Van Gogh. The painting is one of Van Gogh’s paintings of the city of Arles at night. The painting employs the oil on canvas medium to capture the night sky and reflect the effects of the night lights on the bank of the Rhone, a major river that flows through Europe. It was first exhibited at the Paris annual exhibition of the Societe des Artistes Independants in 1889 and currently resides in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
Van Gogh like many artists of his time did not quite enjoy the popularity and commercial success his paintings currently have in his lifetime. Perhaps it is something about death which fascinates us, which opens our minds to previously unseen possibilities that makes us appreciate the work of creatives, artists especially when they are gone into the afterlife. Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853, he grew up in a very religious atmosphere and for a while considered preaching the gospel as his life’s work. After being dismissed from his position as a preacher for overzealousness in Belgium, he decided to study art. He was a post-impressionist painter who regularly suffered from mental breakdowns and his troubled psyche was often reflected in his works.
In 1888, two years before his tragic suicide, he moved to Arles where he completed more than 2,100 works including 860 oil paintings. In Arles, he was constantly obsessed with creating a representation of night effects, in a letter to his sister he admitted that ‘often it seems to me night is even more richly coloured than day’. In September of that same year, he finally realized the object of his obsession and painted the night sky from a view of the Rhone. The view is from a waterside street on the east side of the Rhone where the Rhone surrounds the rocks on which Arles is built.
One thing that stands out in this painting is the intense use of colour, it manages to convey beauty, emotion and serenity of the scene with Van Gogh’s soft and expressive brush strokes. According to Van Gogh in a letter to his friend, the sky is aquamarine, the water is royal blue, the ground is mauve, the town is purple and blue and the gas lights are yellow. Such vivid use of colour to bring nature to life is a recurring characteristic of Van Gogh’s works and it is no surprise that that same technique is employed here. His work was very expressive, often exaggerated, passionate and show cased an underlying hyper sensitive and aesthetic personality. The glimmering gas lights, which were a new invention at the time as artificial lighting was a new phenomenom in Paris, are gloriously reflected in the waters of the Rhone. The painting also magnificiently captures the sparkling colours of the sky making use of blues and yellows to highlight the lights and create a contrasting balance. This helps to convey an impression of the heat of lights on cold water.
The painting also employs even visual weights, there is very little distinction between the earth and sky, it is almost impossible to tell where one starts and the other ends. This creates a beautiful blend of scenery, the graceful strokes capture the expressiveness of the city at night and give the painting an air of mystery that is both captivating and intriguing. In the foreground, two individuals can be seen taking a night stroll, lovers perhaps or maybe friends. The presence of these two individuals has led to speculation that the subject of the painting is romance. However, whether romance was Van Gogh’s intention or not, there is no doubt that the tone of the painting is breezy and calm. The painting forms the basis for his more popular painting, Starry Night which was painted in 1889 and equally features an interpretation of the night sky. Unlike Starry Night however, Starry Night on the Rhone conveys tranquillity and is thought to be one of the artist’s last cheerful paintings. His later paintings, such as the earlier mentioned Starry Night are much more chaotic and perhaps reflect Van Gogh’s declining mental state.
Although during his life time, his works were often criticised as being too “dark” and exaggerated, his works and style of painting heavily influenced the Expressionist and Modernist schools of the 20th century and he is regarded as the greatest Dutch painter since Rembrandt. In his lifetime, he sold only one painting: The Red Vineyard which was sold for 400 francs, today however the subject of this discourse is estimated to be worth between 200-300 million dollars.
Anyway this painting is one of my favourite paintings, I certainly find it a more interesting subject than certain celebrated works which will not be mentioned here. And just like Van Gogh himself said, the night is an excellent fodder for dreams, both in consciousness and unconsciousness and this is one painting which moves one to dream.
