Van Gogh

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Use of Color in “Starry Night” and “Luncheon on the Grass”
“The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh was painted at a time when the artist was living
in the asylum in France following his breakdown and mutilation of his left ear. The artist
attempted to capture the view from outside through his window while in the asylum using a
painted oil canvas (Scott 1). As such, the paint reveals a lot of personal information about the
artist. One of the inspirations of “Starry Night” is that the artist wrote to his brother Theo that
“This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise with nothing
but the morning stars which look very big." This statement relates to “Starry Night” and the
artist’s feelings about his condition. As such, the images of iconic thick lines and intense colors
in the paint reveal much personal information about the artist than they are to viewers. Not only
is “Starry Night” one of the famous works by the artist, but it is also one of the great paintings in
the world. Manet was associated with the new style of painting, also called the impressionist.
Impressionist painting is a kind of painting that depicted the natural appearances of the object by
means of strokes or dabs of primary unmixed colors to simulate the actual object. The artist
bridged the art between the realist and the impressionist with a distinct approach and colors.

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“Luncheon on the Grass” depicts an ordinary situation where two females and two males are
having a picnic despite depicting an ordinary situation or rather a realist perspective; the painting
shows one of the women in the nude. By depicting a nude woman, it can be argued that Manet,
through “Luncheon on the Grass”, was breaking the classical rules of the subject by underscoring
the absurdity and sense of appropriateness by displaying nude pictures. This essay aims to
explore how Van Gogh's and Manet's respective uses of color create a sense of mood, subtext,
and meaning in "The Starry Night" and "Luncheon on the Grass?"
The whirling color paints and spacing in between in the “Starry Night” by Vincent van
Gogh ensure fluidity. Using colors to paint contours forms in the starry night, the artist expresses
the meaning of the art, thus enabling him to reveal the emotions intertwined with the painting.
The painting reveals a peaceful night with an ambiance in the painting that evokes strong
emotions. As such, it can be deduced that van Gogh's turbulent need to recover from his mental
illness is reflected by using a deem sky in the “Starry Night”. It is possible to relate the artist's
incident at the time of painting by using a dark color to paint the village while also using a bright
color to paint the window, revealing a sense of comfort to the artist’s condition despite the
turbulence around his life. Unlike the typical dramatic night sky, the village is peaceful, thus
creating an atmosphere of peace through the silence of the night. The vibrant colors also reveal
solitude which is captured through great detailing of the artist’s observation. He also attempts to
dominate the night with the blue color, which symbolizes unity in the village, thus giving an
impression of size and isolation. The art also has a curvy cypress tree which is often associated
with mourning. The connection between the earth and heaves through the long cypress trees in
the painting reveals the artist’s thoughts about death. Based on the illness and solitude that van
Gogh went through, the artist reveals that death is the end journey of life. Van Gogh's application

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of yellow and blue colors with light greens colors in the painting shows the artist's lack of
blending, thus creating a broken color effect. This appears to reiterate a sense of movement away
and turbulence. Also, the artist’s unique coloration in “Starry Night” reveals his unique
interpretation of the world.
The tree is colored with a fluid line to enhance the flow of “Starry Night”. The art’s color
creates a spiral effect, particularly by using a yellow and white color, thus drawing attention to
the sky at night. By using these rich colors, the night corresponds to the true meaning of “Starry
Night”, where color is typically used to suggest the emotion and state of the artist's mental
illness. As such, the painting reveals hope. Somehow, it seems that Gosh was suggesting through
his painting that even with the dark night, which essentially expresses the artist’s mental illness,
it is possible to see the light in the windows of the house. The artist found his heaven by being
cursed out of the illness. He portrays this message of hope through the bold colors in “Starry
Night”. The color in the “Starry Night” also reveals a calm atmosphere and the artist’s thought
about eternity following his turbulent life challenges. Blue is widely used in “Starry Night” to
depict the sky, thus creating uneasy atmospheres and, somehow, promoting a gloomy future the
artist was yet to face while at Saint-Remy asylum camp for his treatment. As such, a depressing
atmosphere is created by blue color, particularly about the artist's state. As part of the subtext,
“Starry Night” portrays a vast power of nature shown by cypress in the painting that represents
nature and man both pointing to heaven.
“Luncheon on the Grass” uses color to create a mood of protest, idiotic and incoherent.
Through its color scheme, the composition of the painting can be provocative, particularly by
depicting women as prostitutes. At the time of painting, depicting nudity was illegal, and no
audience was daring to share such pictures. By having a provocative mood, “Luncheon on the

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Grass” could also create a violent scandal since its technique of color emphasizes the observation
of reality over traditional ideals. “Luncheon on the Grass” contextualizes medieval mythology
and redefines what constitutes fine art. A strong contrast of dark and light is used in the
“Luncheon on the Grass”. The nude women have a relatively light intercity of light compared to
the men. Also, in the bottom right, there is still life and the discarded clothes. Both the clothes
and the women stand out in the painting because Manet uses a creatively warmer color compare
to the dark, cold color of the surrounding setting. Also, the artist uses a black suit to depict the
color of the men. By using this form of contrast in the coloring of the painting, Manet
demonstrates his notion of the impressionist. As such, this coloring of the picture reveals the
author's naturalist artistic work, by departing to the realist point of view in painting. This shows
how Manet represents nature in his way and also indicates Manet’s consciousness in the painting
(Richman-Abdou 1). Manet's use of color in regard to the treatment of landscape and space
reveals what is real. The setting of the “Luncheon on the Grass” can be deduced to be modern
France which emphasizes the realist perspective. “Luncheon on the Grass” does not subtly blend
dark and light colors on the canvas. This can be interpreted as one of the elements of
impressionist breakaway strategy, but the intentional lack of balance in color, particularly the
colors of the nude women and men, relates to the notion of the moral hypocrisy that society
adopted.
The use of color in the “Luncheon on the Grass” reveals a primitive and calm atmosphere
that returns the viewer’s mind to the Garden of Eden. This atmosphere reveals the most basic
form of beauty, thus provoking a symbolic realm. The colors in the “Luncheon on the Grass”
apply the dynamic of decreasing and increasing the color, and the color lump becomes so
obvious, thus portraying the picture's abstractness. The colors of the painting render the

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atmosphere of the setting as still, thus emphasizing the theme. “Luncheon on the Grass” creates a
crude stroke, thus teasing the viewers to accepting what is considered vulgar. As such, the
picture, through its colors, makes self-consciousness about the author with its compelling colors.
By depicting women in bright colors, it can be argued that Manet was giving his
testimony and refusal to conform to the classical conventions and his migration to the new
modes of expression and freedom. Also, as a subtext, “Luncheon on the Grass” could have been
painted to mock the law and older master about the sincerity and hypocrisy of the society. It can
be argued that Manet wanted to express the reality of social life through “Luncheon on the
Grass”. He thus attempted to make a difference in the social life where boundaries and ideal
morals were binding to all members of the society. “Luncheon on the Grass” major theme was to
break down the traditional social rules and realign itself to the rapidly changing society.
In conclusion, the vibrant colors in “Starry Night” reveal solitude which is captured
through great detailing of the artist observation. It is possible to relate the artist’s incident at the
time of painting by using a dark color to paint the village while also using a bright color to paint
the window which reveals a sense of comfort to the artist’s condition. Following the illness and
solitude that van Gogh went through, the artist reveals that death is the end journey of life. Long
cypress trees mark this. Van Gogh’s application of yellow and blue colors with light greens
colors in the painting shows the artist's Lack of blending, thus creating a broken color effect.
This appears to reiterate a sense of movement and also symbolizes unity in the village, thus
giving an impression of size and isolation. “Luncheon on the Grass” depicts women in bright
colors; thus, it can be argued that Manet was giving his testimony and refusal to conform to the
classical conventions and his migration to the new modes of expression and freedom. Also, the
use of color in the “Luncheon on the Grass” reveals a primitive and calm atmosphere. The colors

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of the painting render the atmosphere of the setting as still, thus emphasizing the theme. As a
subtext, “Luncheon on the Grass” could have been painted to mock the law and older master
about the sincerity and hypocrisy of the society.

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Works Cited
Richman-Abdou, Kelly. The Significance of the Manet’s Large Scale Masterpiece “The
Luncheon on the Grass. Art History. (2018). P.1 retrieved from:
https://mymodernmet.com/edouard-manet-the-luncheon-on-the-grass/
Scott, Dan. A Closer Look at the Starry Night By Vincent Van Gogh. Draw Paint Academy.
(2019). P.1 retrieved from: https://drawpaintacademy.com/the-starry-
night/#:~:text=Van%20Gogh%20used%20rich%20blues,between%20all%20the%20disti
nct%20colors.