Thread by @TrungTPhan

The Starry Night is a great lesson on how technology changes art.

Vincent Van Gogh created his masterpiece in 1889. But the painting style was born from the art world's response to the invention of photography decades earlier.

Here the story🧵

Van Gogh was born in 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands.

He had an interest in art from a young age, including a short stint as an art dealer. But through his teens and 20s, poor mental health prevented Van Gogh from keeping a profession.

In 1881, he moved back in with his parents.

With financial and emotional support from his younger brother Theo, Van Gogh began to paint more seriously.

The two brothers corresponded frequently by letters, which has given future generations full access into Van Gogh's psyche.

Van Gogh's early works were character and setting studies.

Compared to his more famous pieces, there was a lack of color.

This style was very much in line with the post-Enlightenment norm of capturing scenes as a form of documentation (eg. look quite realistic).

Now, let's rewind back to 1839.

That year saw the development of the first photographic camera for commercial use -- the Daguerre camera.

While it required 30 minutes of light exposure, that was much shorter than the hours required of photography devices in previous decades.

Camera technology advanced and the ability to capture real-life images no longer required an artist. Up to this point, the norm to have a portrait "done" was commission a painter.

By 1849, 100k Parisians had a portrait taken by camera.

Artists were freed to try new techniques.

The most notable art movement was Impressionism, which began in 1860 (France).

Artists like Claude Monet tried techniques that were different than what a camera could capture (playing w/ light, color, brushstrokes)

The paintings were a subjective view of reality (often nature).

Back to Van Gogh: he followed his brother Theo to Paris in 1886 (then Arle, France in 1888).

In France, Van Gogh was exposed to Monet (and other Impressionists).

The budding artist transitioned from the dark Dutch painting style to a brighter palette and more subjective view.

The "ear cutting" incident took place in Arle on December 23rd, 1888.

Van Gogh mutilated himself after a mental breakdown. He spent months in hospital before admitting himself to a psychiatric institution in Saint-Remy France in May 1889.

What followed was a creative explosion.

Saint-Remy was quite a progressive asylum. The institution believed it was crucial to surround patients with nature.

Van Gogh spent the next year on a strict schedule and made 150 paintings.

This was the view from Van Gogh's room, which inspired a number of landscape paintings.

The view also inspired The Starry Night, which Van Gogh painted on the night of June 23rd, 1889.

Van Gogh made the painting in a studio room (different than his bedroom view).

It was actually done during the daytime and meant he did it from memory (as subjective as it gets).

It wasn't the first time Van Gogh had painted a starry night sky:

◻️Cafe Terrace at Night (Sept 1888)
◻️Starry Night Over The Rhone (Sept 1888)

But the night sky in these paintings are much more "realistic" than the one he painted at Saint Remy…

Van Gogh — who is considered a post-impressionist —believed The Starry Night to be a failure.

In a letter to French painter Emile Bernard, Van Gogh said the work was too abstract and unrealistic.

Turns out Van Gogh's subjective approach became his most enduring work.

Within 14 months, Van Gogh was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 37 and had only sold one painting in his life.

Today, The Starry Night is displayed at The MOMA in New York. It's the 3rd most visited painting in the world (after Mona Lisa and The Sistine Chapel).

Why does Van Gogh's masterpieces resonates? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has my favorite explanation:

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Sources

Kiama Art Gallery: kiamaartgallery.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/imp…

MOMA: moma.org/explore/inside…

Great Art Explained / YouTube:

A Neil Degrasse Tyson presentation that inspired this thread:

There’s a great scene in Doctor Who where they bring Van Gogh to Paris in 2010 to a museum and let him see how much his work has changed the world

The Starry Night was also influenced by the famous Great Wave by Japanese artist Hokusai (who Van Gogh admired)

Here’s the clip of @neiltyson explaining why The Starry Night is his favorite painting: “It’s not what Van Gogh saw that night. It’s what he felt.”

Here’s a fascinating TED ED video explaining how the swirls in The Starry Night seem to show that Van Gogh understood one of the most complex phenomenons in physics: fluid dynamics (which remains a semi-mystery)

🔗

There are some great Starry Night parody paintings