The Starry Night is a painting in post-impressionist style created by Vincent van Gogh. The painting pictures an abstract image of the night sky with big and bright yellow stars and a moon contrasting with the black and blue landscape of the city. The Starry Night is one of van Gogh’s most famous works, and it also presents one of the most recognizable paintings of Western artists with a significant history.
Van Gogh’s life and art were greatly influenced by his suffering from psychiatric illnesses. According to modern experts, schizoaffective disorder impacted how van Gogh perceived visionary and auditory signals (Cooper & Agius, 2018). The artist also often experienced hallucinations and mood swings, ultimately ending with the artist’s suicide. The Starry Night painting was created during van Gogh’s stay at the Saint-Paul asylum. The landscape in the painting is inspired by the view the artist saw from the window in his room. It is necessary to point out that the view was inspired by the real landscape because some of the elements in the picture were imagined by the artist.
Despite having a devastating effect on the artist’s life, mental illness greatly improved the creativity of his works. For example, according to Cooper and Agius (2018), the presence of yellow halos of the stars in the painting can be explained by the fact that van Gogh possibly had xanthopsia from terpenoid consumption. Thus, in the case of The Starry Night, the artist’s personality and background play a significant role in the history of the painting’s creation.
In conclusion, researching the information about the painting emphasizes the role of the artist’s personal life in his art. Van Gogh’s creativity presented the intersection of his abilities as an artist with his poor mental state. Thus, The Starry Night painting should always be viewed in the context of the artist’s history because it demonstrates the capability of art to transform sad events into magnificent things.
Reference
Cooper, Y., & Agius, M. (2018). Does schizoaffective disorder explain the mental illnesses of Robert Schumann and Vincent Van Gogh? Psychiatria Danubina, 30(7), 559-562.