
The art piece Starry Night, painted by Vincent Van Gough, emits a sensation of nature appreciation.  Published 1889 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France; Starry Night does a great job of truly expressing the beauty of nature.  This piece of artwork uses very contradicting hues to urge attention to certain parts of this piece.  With its asymmetric layout and Van Gough’s abstract style, he portrays the true beauty of the night sky; however, while being visually pleasing, this painting is based on the view from an asylum.  This goes to show that how in every dark place there is always a trace of light.  

From the natural beauty of the France’s country side, Starry Night does an exceptional job of transforming the depressed view from an asylum to a heart-warming and iconic masterpiece.  Van Gough uses his unique painting style to emphasize the glittering evening stars, for the stars in his artwork are so immense that they seem to illuminate the night sky.  This giving the viewer of this piece a sense of comfort and safety when thinking of the night.  

The stylistic pattern of the night sky in the painting resembles that of flowing air in a very abstract manner, giving evidence that Van Gough must have been very fascinated it.  By the first glance at Starry Night, the viewer can immediately notice the time and effort that Van Gough put in to creating the skyline of this piece, for every individual brush stroke is evident.  The beauty of this piece is what has caught the eye of all of its viewers, however, it is the ideals that follow Van Gough’s perception of the night sky that keep viewers coming back, even centuries later.  

As it is clearly known that Van Gough was not mentally stable, for he did cut his ear off and sent it to his partner; nevertheless, he was quite the artistic genius.  He uses complimentary hues throughout this piece in order to make it more visually pleasing and to attract the viewers’ attention to specific parts of his painting.  Van Gough attracts the most attention to the enormous moon hanging in the sky and the gloomy-looking tree standing in front of the city.  The large opaque tree is the darkest object in the painting, and emits a sense of darkness and blocked view.  However, behind the tree is the bright yellow moon levitating over the city.  It is the largest illuminating object in Starry Night, and this goes to show how you must look past the darkness to see true beauty.

The Ying-Yang symbol is recognized worldwide for its mean, there is always a little darkness in the light, and there is always a little light in the darkness.  Starry Night’s swirling sky closely resembles the shape of this symbol.  With this, one could immediately assume that the meaning of the Ying-Yang symbol could have been incorporated within this piece.  Van Gough’s mental struggle is the connotation of the darkness, while the light represents Van Gough’s success and the joy throughout his life.  Though it is important to point out how he has a singular dark mass accompanied by multiple smaller light emitting objects.  With this being said it is easy to say that cumulative amount of light outweighs the darkness portrayed.  

The oil canvas painting Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gough, depicts a detailed image of how there is light in every dark place by its use of stylistic design, point emphasis, and strategic use of hues.  This artwork has been a part of western culture for centuries, and it’s not just because of its elegance.  The symbolic meaning of Starry Night is relatable to many real world situations.  For when things seem to be going bad, or if one were to find themselves in a dark place, just remember to look past it because everyone has a chance a brighter future.