Vincent Van Gogh

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The artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) is known to have produced great works that played a big part in influencing the art of the 20th century period. Beauty, color and emotion are the three main features that defined the works of the artist. His famous paintings, Irises and The Starry Night are good examples of the use of these features, and they follow the post-impressionism style that he was known for. These used symbolic images along with bold and expressive colors. As was common during this historical period, these two paintings show that the artistic works of the time were inspired by nature and landscape in particular.
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1. Vincent Van Gogh. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on Canvas. 73.7 cm * 92.1 cm. MoMA the Museum of Modern Art.
2. Vincent Van Gogh. Irises. 1890. Oil on Canvas. 2.4 cm*3.1cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum.
In terms of formal analysis, The Starry Night painting is an oil-on-canvas painting showing the sky at night filled with stars and a moon. The picture plane is dominated by these features that take up to almost three-quarters of its space. The patterns used are intensely swirling in a wave-like motion that makes the painting appear turbulent. To the far right, the crescent moon is represented in the form of a bright orb while the star Venus, is presented as another bright orb on the left side. Each of these images has concentric circles surrounding it, and the circles are made of very bright yellow and white lights. A seemingly silent village can be seen just below the expressive sky (Thomson, 23). There is a church with a sharp steeple that can be seen above the mountains in the background, which are painted in blue-black. In the foreground, one can see a cypress tree that rises to the sky.
The Irises painting, on the other hand, is made up of a garden plant with flowers. On the painting’s right side, most of the flowers are found while an unoccupied grass field is evident on the left bottom side. Just like in The Starry Night, the color strokes are vivid and very expressive in this painting and which are used to show the free-flowing irises. Through the rich brushwork, one can also feel the gentle breeze present in a simple background. The shapes of the flowers are carefully done giving a curved silhouette of endless variety. Visually, the flower painting is like the same motif that has been repeated severally and in a static form.
The two works by Van Gogh both have some expressive meanings associated with them. For instance, in Starry Night, the painting is said to be a depiction of the view of Saint-Remy-de...