EXPRESSIONISM

Starry
Starry
Night (1889)

by Vincent Van Gogh

ANALYSIS
BRUSHSTROKES
Unique, thick
brushstrokes were
very much obvious
Impasto technique
ANALYSIS
CYPRESS TREE
Van Gogh's symbolic
self-representation
Death/Immortality
ANALYSIS
NIGHT SKY

Venus - brightest star

11 Stars - biblical
sense
ANALYSIS
USE OF COLOR

Blue
Yellow
White
ANALYSIS
MOOD, TONE,
EMOTION

Hope
Calmness
ANALYSIS
EXPRESSIONISM
ART
Expresses feelings and
emotions rather than to
depict reality or nature
objectively
 INSIGHTS AND
BASIC
DOCUMENTATION
INFORMATION
ANALYSIS
 Vincent by Don McLean

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land
 Vincent by Don McLean

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now
 Vincent by Don McLean

Starry, starry night

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand
 Vincent by Don McLean

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now
 Vincent by Don McLean

For they could not love you

But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could have told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you
 Vincent by Don McLean

Starry, starry night

Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn; a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow
 Vincent by Don McLean

Now I think I know

What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will
 References
Caldarone, J. (2010). The Cypress Trees in “The Starry Night”: A Symbolic Self-Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. Retrieved from
https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgireferer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1002&context=art_stu
dents&fbclid=IwAR0Z-E7tu5nlOaEcIThDO0jKAvhlSuaEF5xivT9KTlyDitYpiblb6z0BK38

Conchola, A. (2013, May 19). The World of Expressionism in Art. Starry Night – Vincent Van Gogh.  Retrieved from
https://adreanacanchola.blogspot.com/2013/05/starry-night-vincent-van-gogh.html?
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Dowding-Green, R. (2018, April 23). An evaluation of the interpretations of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Retrieved from
https://medium.com/@raphaeladowdinggreen/an-evaluation-of-the-interpretations-of-vincent-van-goghs-starry-night-cf1352edd589

Pennington, J., FitzSenry, T., & Levinson, M. (2017). What exactly does Don McLean intend by saying that Vincent Van Gogh “suffered for his sanity” in
the track “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)”?. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-does-Don-McLean-intend-by-saying-that-Vincent-
van-Gogh-suffered-for-his-sanity-in-the-track-Vincent-Starry-Starry-
Nightfbclid=IwAR2gVlzgvH3VuIctsW3uhTqKfjB0wfEl1ODz9EnXxSZyqW_2y0qMbGdGcP4

Puchko, K. (2015, April 7). 11 Things You Didn’t Know About the Starry Night. Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/62621/11-things-you-didnt-
know-about-starry-night?fbclid=IwAR0TT8MnFYdCpEs48IQWhrmY5EECDyQS7z8YRX0ptjlNEFpKT0fYNEUVFIA

Starry Night Composition. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/paintings/starry_night/more_information/analysis?

fbclid=IwAR3ttq5QwFTPfqLQp64-4MWHMK46hUunC6Kmf1J6LQxtQVUTn_LJb4NYuSY#brushstroke

The Starry Night, 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.vincentvangogh.org/starry-night.jsp?fbclid=IwAR0Z-
E7tu5nlOaEcIThDO0jKAvhlSuaEF5xivT9KTlyDitYpiblb6z0BK38

Zelazko, A. (n.d.). The Starry Night Painting by Van Gogh. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/oil-painting