Lauren Soth is working throughout his entire article to express and prove Van Gogh’s intentions and therefore Van Gogh’s agony as the meaning behind his masterpiece, Starry Night. Soth’s thesis claims the painting was intended to console, but also another attempt at a failed painting “Agony in the Garden” which was meant to be imaginative, but based on conceptual history. At first his thesis seemed too bold, although arguable. By hiding his opinions and focusing on tangible evidence such as a solid visual analysis, powerful biographical details, and letters written by Van Gogh himself, Soth’s seemingly exaggerated opinion transforms into an insightful and well-supported thesis.
An isolated look at Soth’s organizational style shows it is concealing his opinions. Instead of having a few paragraphs categorized and separated, he limits the number of theories and changes it into a logical conclusion from verifiable evidence. One of the first examples in his article is the section called conceptual history. The topic sentence expresses his belief that Van Gogh was preoccupied with the idea of painting the night sky. He states facts about the letters Van Gogh wrote and later gives his reader the actual letter as proof. This style works by making the reader take his belief as fact instead of interpretation because of how logically his interpretation follows. This technique is powerfully persuasive and highlights the argument’s form in each paragraph as one of his key strengths to back up his thesis.
Another way the organization strengthens his argument is by having clear topic sentences all supporting Soth’s thesis. These topic sentences are usually interpretations, but as explained in the previous paragraph, very well-supported. This...
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...that extra push to at least mention this potential prejudice and prove he was aware of these connotations.
To the reader, the article is both incredibly gratifying and frustrating, especially with the final line of the article: “At its most profound level, the Starry Night is Van Gogh’s Agony.” The cockiness of this statement at first read seems pompous. The idea that a masterpiece could be reduced to something so simple was disturbing. However, through the organizational style, overwhelming facts, examples in the artist’s own words, and linking it to Agony in the Garden; the idea of unsubstantiated snobbery is dismissed. So much so that vexation is replaced with a sort of admiration around an extremely well thought out and passionately provoking conclusion.
Works Cited
Soth, Lauren. "Van Gogh’s Agony."
The Art Bulletin Vol. 68, No, 2 (1986): 301-313.
The organization of the argument of this paper is not particularly imaginative since this writer “lists” elements in a strictly sequential order, but he or she demonstrates familiarity with a wide range of documents and concepts of the Reader while working closely with the specific language of the document he or she is presenting.
In 1888, Van Gogh painted his Bedroom in Arles, while he was living in his famous yellow house. The objects depicted in the painting, namely his bed, two chairs and a table, all seem like they are tilted downwards, and the entire perspective seems rather strange. Indeed, after moving to the South of France, the artist’s style changed remarkably as he started drifting away from impressionism. H...
References 2, 7, 8- "Vincent Van Gogh- Portrait of an Artist" Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, pages 7, 85, and 86. Published in 2001.
In the mid 1800’s realism was developed as a style of painting to replicate the world as it was seen in a traditional artistic style. This allowed for a new style of art to be created that was based of a real moment or scene but to forget the traditional artistic laws such as distinct lines and forms. Approaching art from this impressionistic view Monet’s painted “Impression, Sunrise” bringing to life a natural scene of a hazy harbor using quick, short brush strokes and defining uses of color and natural light. Van Gough’s “Starry Night” uses similar impressionistic styles to paint a natural scene using vibrant contrasting colors, yet he embellishes the scene to create art that in not merely a landscape but a piece of self expression and shifted
...retation of the painting some aspects were surprising to how dark and heavy hearted she could speak, she took an interesting perspective. However in her interpretative poem she found a perspective of the painting that connected with her. As she used every stroke of darkness painted into the canvas an opportunity to have it symbolize this darkness and evil that resides in the world. It told her story and her experience of a starry night. Similarly Van Gogh had used every stroke of light painted into the canvas to be a symbol of beauty, and a symbol of his fascination of the night sky and its illuminating lights. He uses swift movements of his brush to depict a sky that seem to be able to sweep the mind away from the frustrations of this world in to the dreamy night light. A single painting worth a million words tells many stories through every perspective.
... the 20th century vogue in romanticized psychological biography. Who knows of how many other great paintings he could have completed in the following years. Although his life was cut short, Vincent van Gogh has since been recognized as one of the great geniuses of modern art. He was clearly one of the greatest postimpressionism painters of all time.
The life span of 37 years saw Vincent Willem van Gogh (Vincent) in creating beautiful works he dearly loved. Painting was an avenue, which allowed him to express his inner thoughts or vent his struggles. My decision to research on Vincent’s painting, Starry Night (1889) came with the inspiration from Don Mclean’s Song, Starry Starry Night where his lyrics spoke about Vincent’s life that further intrigued me in writing this paper.
Painted by Vincent Van Gogh during a final burst of activity in Auvers before his suicide in July, Houses at Auvers features many of the characteristic elements typical of Van Gogh; the experimentation with color, texture, and thick brush strokes. This painting depicts the view and landscape in early summer, highlighting the patchwork of houses and the rolling greenery. Van Gogh’s unique, thick brush strokes lead the eyes through the painting, create texture and patterns and also highlight and shadow objects in the early summer sun, while his experimentation with color creates contrast and a bright, vibrant image.
Vincent Van Gogh never gave up his style and insight in his early work compared to his later work. I will discuss the comparison of the Potato Eaters and Starry Night and even though there are obvious differences, the core of his passion and eccentricities can be seen.
he artwork I chose to analyze is The Starry Night (June 1889) by Vincent Van Gogh.I
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
Vincent Van Gogh is a well known artist from the 1800's and most people know him for his painting “Starry Night” which in my opinion is one of his best pieces but I think Van Gogh's “At Eternity's Gate” could possibly rival “Starry Night” for one of his best pieces of art. “At Eternity's Gate” is a portrait of a man that appears to be distressed and mournful. He wears all blue while sitting on a chair in front of a fireplace. He is in a room which is seems empty. The man in the picture seems to be distraught with his hand covering his face, he is also hunched forward with his elbows on his thighs. The man is wearing all blue with brown shoes. The man has a receding hairline and what seem to be wrinkle on his head probably meaning he is very old.
In this essay will be talking about and comparing between the traditional painting Starry night by Vincent Van Gogh and the digital movie poster for Midnight in Paris designed by the company Cardinal Communications USA. Starry Night is an artwork that was painted in 1889 in an asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provience, France while the Midnight in Paris poster is digitally made somewhere in the USA by someone in that company sometime in 2010. While both these artworks are very different, they have some similarities.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce, exemplifies the model of art it proposes as it also offers the reader on how to read that very art. Following the main character, Stephen Dedalus, through life, Joyce uses Stephen’s immediate perception to convey how an artist views the world. The reader witnesses Stephen encountering everyday aspects of life as art—the words of a language lesson as poetry or the colors of a rose as beautiful. Through Stephen’s voyage and words, Joyce introduces the theory that “beauty” as a label for an object is not born from the actual physical object itself, but rather lies within the process one goes through when encountering the object. Joyce’s theory is also experienced by the reader as he or she encounters Stephen’s perceptions as well as the beauty of the poetic language and vivid description within Joyce’s narrative. The rhythmic patterns and stylistic sentences create a multitude of authorial voices that blend at various points in the novel involving Joyce, Stephen, and the reader.
As I mentioned, I want to dedicate my exhibit artwork that gives insight into either the artist themselves, the world around them as they saw it/ heir culture, or both and these pieces are all phenomenal representations of that. Paintings like “The Scream” and “Self Portrait with Monkeys” and “The Starry Night” give tremendous insight into the inner workings of the artists mind. There is no better reflection of how we see ourselves than they way we’d paint ourselves. What better to see how artist viewed the world around them than by studying how the painted it? In Van Goh’s “A Starry Night” the city below sleeps, but the sky is a swirling mass, seemingly alive with activity and energy and why? Because Van Gogh, a deeply troubled and tortured artists had a somewhat poetic and optimistic view on life after death, he believed that people journeyed to a star after death and from there continued their life just as they had on earth. “The Starry Night” is more than just a beautiful painting, it’s a laborious expression of the artists own personal beliefs and values. Frida Kahlo’s “Self Portrait with Monkey’s” is equally as fascinating because it presents the viewer with an opportunity to analyze hoy they artist