Compare And Contrast Starry Night And Vincent Van Gogh

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I am comparing my favorite painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh to The View of Toledo by El Greco. Both paintings are beautiful landscapes featuring the night sky. Starry Night, 29 x 36 ¼”, is an oil on canvas painting currently located at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. The Starry Night was painted in June of 1889 by post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh. View of Toledo was painted by El Greco in 1598-99 during the Mannerism period. It is oil on canvas measuring 47 ¾” x 42 ¾” and is currently located at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, NY. While living in Paris, Van Gogh was first introduced to impressionist art and was inspired by the color and light. “Inspired by these artists, he brightened his own palette and …show more content…

While in Venice, he studied under the well-known painter Titian. From Titian, he learned the fundamentals of Renaissance art. Around 1576 he decided to move to Toledo, Spain where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Here is where he painted View of Toledo, which is considered the first landscape in Spanish art. I think this ominous representation of the city of Toledo displays the power of nature. It is as the sky could open up at any moment and destroy the ghost like city below. It is suggested that El Greco might have painted this landscape as part of a propaganda campaign to encourage Philip II to reinstate the court in Toledo after he abandoned it in 1561 (Piker). Mannerism style stepped away from the traditional aspects of Renaissance art. “Mannerist art represents tension and angst, opposed to the peacefulness of Renaissance art” (Cowie). Some also say this painting is meant to show an apocalyptic vision. “This is a landscape of heavenly apocalyptic power: a conversation between heaven and earth next to the cathedral spire. The scene of the town takes place at the moment before a storm. The heavens are literally at war with the setting sun against the thunderstorm that is about to happen” (El Greco). Starry Night and View of Toledo are both landscapes featuring a town, a church, and a beautiful night sky. Both artists used the contrast of light and dark to detail their paintings. They both also took liberties in arranging the cities the way they saw fit. Although these paintings are landscapes, their themes are quite different. Van Gogh’s starry night is a more peaceful quiet depiction of the town below. View of Toledo is a more ominous painting that depicts a town below an angry stormy

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