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Starry Night over the Rhône by van Gogh
An 1888 oil on canvas painting, Starry Night over the Rhône, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), the Dutch post-impressionist artist. Painted in September in Arles, southern France. His letters reveal that Vincent had planned for some time to make this night scene but was worried over the difficulties of painting it plein air (in the open air), the typical technique of impressionists. Keen to avoid black to represent night, the artist instead uses a wide range of blues: Prussian blue, cobalt, and ultramarine. Once again, he uses a starkly contrasting but complementary colour scheme of yellow and blue. The pair of lovers in the corner is significant, as revealed in the following passage in a letter from Vincent to his brother Theo written in the same month this scene was created:
To express the love of two lovers by the marriage of two complementary colours, their blending and their contrast, the mysterious vibrations of related tones. To express the thought of a brow by the radiance of a light tone against a dark background. To express hope by some star. (LT 531F)
(Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
Bibliography
- McQuillan, Melissa & Van Gogh, Vincent. Van Gogh . Thames & Hudson, 1989.
- Van Gogh, Vincent & de Leeuw, Ronald & Pomerans, Arnold J. The Letters of Vincent van Gogh . Penguin Classics, 1998.
- Walther, Ingo F. & Metzger, Rainer. Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings. TASCHEN, 2020.
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License & Copyright
Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.
Original image by Musée d'Orsay. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 17 March 2022. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
