Vincent van Gogh saw little commercial success during his lifetime, but he loved art and he worked to forge relationships with other artists he could learn from. The Starry Night came about late in his short career after Vincent van Gogh was hospitalized. He painted the view from his window, but rather than painting things exactly as he saw them, he painted a sort of composite landscape of views from different nights and even different locations. He moved the cypress tree to the foreground and added a little town nestled in the mountains despite the town not being visible from his window. This marked a major shift in painting away from observation of the external world to artists creating work as a show of their internal thoughts and feelings.

Related episodes:

Vincent van Gogh (part 1) | The Potatoe Eaters

Vincent van Gogh (part 2) | Starry Night

Vincent van Gogh | Sunflowers

Loving Vincent - a Film Made of Paintings

Did Vincent van Gogh Really Only Sell One Painting?

Art Smart: Impressionism & Post Impressionism

Arts Madness 2024 links:

Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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