Van Gogh and Starry Night

He concluded that "Van Gogh had keen night vision, and although he did not hesitate to alter the scene to suit his goals, it is possible to find artistic references to the sky he would have actually seen" (Whitney). .
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             If one re-examines the painting looking for the swirling pattern in the paint it brings to light the way in which the painting was painted. A person observing this painting will find their eyes moving with the swirls to take in the whole painting. Looking from the left the swirls of cloud lead the looker to the right up into the stars, down into the middle swirl, right again towards the moon and down towards the hills to the village. From the village the eyes move to the dark structure that has been standing out the whole time because of its contrast from the bright colors the artist used for the rest of the painting. It is difficult to tell if this dark structure was meant to have a seep meaning or if it was just placed by the artist in order to show some depth. .
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             "Starry Night" was painted in Saint-Remy in 1889 while Van Gogh was in the asylum there (Gallery). That makes the painting one hundred and twenty-four years old to date. Yet, after all this time, and the many studies of the painting that have occurred, still no one knows the true meaning of the structure, or even what the structure is. One would think that someone would have thought to ask about it back then since Van Gogh was an avid lover of bright colors, as evident in his other works. Especially as one source states he was "determined to give happiness by creating beauty" (Gallery). .
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             Sadly, the most people normally know about Van Gogh is that he was a painter who became famous only after his death, and that he cut his own ear off. The Van Gogh Art Gallery briefly describes the incident on their website. According to the site Van Gogh had gone south with the intention of gathering friends to create an art school.