 | Moosekarloff (17)
04/27/2004 |  This painting has been so overexposed in popular culture that it has, unfortunately, descended into the realm of cliche. One of the later of van Gogh's works, it reveals the vibrant use of color for which he was well regarded, and displays a much open and painterly application than he ordinarily employed. The painting is well built up and, as is typical of many postimpressionist works, emphasizes the surface of the canvas and glorifies materials at the expense of traditional concerns of scale, perpective, use of light, etc. This is more a conceptual and technical statement about the mechanics of painting than any attempt to render a mimetic vision of the real world. Of course, this anticipates the more pervading use of gesture in the later modernist tradition and is in keeping with the major polemic taken up by Western visual artists in the mid-19th century, namely, that painting is essentially about painting. The earlier essential function of painting, to depict the concrete world in realistic terms, is deliberately denied here as realistic depiction of the real world could be better done by means of photography. The secondary earlier function of painting, the mere decorative aspect, is supplanted by more of a focus on the rules and technical requirements of painting, by an evocation of the internal state of the artist. In this, Starry Night is in keeping with the aesthetic ethos of van Gogh's time (established a couple of decades earlier by painters like Corot, Manet and El Greco) and prefigures the more Expressionist impulse of the 20th century. This, contrary to what the layman thinks, is hardly a shocking painting for its era, and no more influential than dozens of other works painted at the end of the 19th century (Cezanne's works in particular). However, it is the personality of the work that establishes its appeal, and its striking visual effect has made it a fan favorite over the decades. There are greater paintings than this in van Gogh's canon, but this is the one that has enfranchised him in the public imagination.
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 | twinmom101 (31)
11/04/2003 | ClassicTVFan, do you understand what "stylized" even means? If you did you would understand that Van Gogh has one of the most recognizable styles in the history of art right up there with El Greco and Hieronymous Bosch. As far as being overrated, Van Gogh was a groundbreaking painter who influenced dozens of notable artists like Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc decades after his death. However, I'm not surprized to see such a uninformed review coming from a person who disses Shakespeare in favor of Star Wars novels and consideres Chick-Fil-Et the ultimate dining experience.
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 | lukskywlkr. (3)
09/28/2003 | I have a print of this hanging in the bedroom. It's one of my all-time favorites. The swirls of color, both light and dark, are woven together into an amazing work. It's unreal that he painted this thing while in a mental institution.
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