Starry Night, Part Three

Personal Reflections on a Well-known Painting, and a little bit of Shakespeare.

I have seen this painting many, many times in my life. When I was a child I didn’t like it very much. I remember thinking that it looked rough and unfinished. It bothered me that the brushstrokes in Starry Night don’t blend nicely together. I had heard, of course, that Van Gogh was mentally ill. I took that to mean that he was crazy and I thought this painting’s jagged appearance was a reflection of a disordered mind. As I have grown up and contemplated this (and examined my relationships with mentally ill family members) I have realized that being “crazy” does not automatically preclude a valid point of view. I have also learned that Van Gogh was inspired by other art forms, specifically Japanese woodcuts. This could account for the way that he laid the paint down on canvas in this painting. I can see that it could easily translate to a woodcut print.

Van Gogh’s tormented life and beautiful painting Starry Night can be described in William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29:
When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon my self and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate,
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

In line 3 of the sonnet Shakespeare says “And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries”. This is illustrated in the painting because of the techniques Van Gogh used. God would not hear Van Gogh because he, like all signs of humanity in Starry Night, was small and inconsequential. The brushed arcs of the sky in the painting are not smooth and easy - they are rough and coarse. The swiftly moving forces of the sky are not peaceful and gentle. It seems like Van Gogh loved God and greatly admired his power and glory while at the same time he feared what God’s power could do to him personally. And yet, as in the last two lines of the sonnet, God’s love for us brings us wealth that can never be compared with earthly treasures and humanity’s respect.

Because of the many times Van Gogh felt unloved and all alone in life, his unsuccessful attempts to console others through religious ministry, and the unalleviated suffering of mental anguish, I think he must have felt the sentiments expressed in Shakespeare’s sonnet. When I think of these words and look at the painting I remember the love of God and how it has comforted me in times of despair. I feel empathy for Van Gogh, and an appreciation for the works of art that he created, especially Starry Night.

The End!