Hi gardenmaid,
There is no shortage of online links to art history on the internet
and to Vincent Van Gogh himself, but relatively little is written (as
compared to the ever popular painting "Starry Night") on the painting
"Starry Night Over the Rhone". However, I think we've been able to
collect enough material for you to get some insight into "Starry Night
Over the Rhone".
Starry Night Over the Rhone
«La nuit étoilée sur le Rhône»
Oil on canvas
72.5 x 92.0 cm.
Arles: September, 1888
F 474, JH 1592
Paris: Musée d'Orsay
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/p_0474.htm
The site of a lover, a true 'amateur'.
The Vincent van Gogh Gallery: Arles:
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/by_period/arles.htm
IMAGES:
Larger size (1064 x 869 pixel) allows a closer look at the brushwork.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/gogh.starry-night-rhone.jpg
Enhanced(?) colour emphasizes differences.
http://www.blue.fr/vangogh/p8.htm
THEORY:
Van Gogh's Letters Unabridged and Annotated:
Here you can do a search for specific words and only the letters with
those words or phrases will appear.
http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/
The Complete Letters:
The letters are cross-linked to the works referred to in them. For
example, in the group "Arles: 1888-89", in the letter of 28 September
1888 (#543), Vincent writes of painting at night and describes a work
now known as "Starry Night Over the Rhone". This title / thread can
then easily be followed through 13 October (#552).
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/letters/main.htm
"Vincent van Gogh Paintings Project":
The site dedicates pages to the following places/years:
Antwerp & Paris - 1886
Paris - 1887
Paris and Arles - 1888
Arles & Saint Remy - 1889
The links lead to pages of thumbnails, which in turn lead to very
brief discussions of each work, for example, 51 of the paintings made
by Vincent van Gogh in Arles in 1888:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/vincentvangogh/collection/vangogh-1888.html
...includes "Starry Night Over the Rhone" and another night scene,
"Cafe Terrace at Night".
http://home.wanadoo.nl/vincentvangogh/collection/index.html
The Art Institute of Chicago exhibit:
"Van Gogh and Gauguin - The Studio of the South":
"Starry Night Over the Rhone":
Click on "excerpt" to read a quote from Vincent relative to the
painting.
"... there is a greater quiet about them than in the other canvases"
...but the wind "makes it very hard to get one's brushwork firm and
interwoven with feeling, like a piece of music played with emotion."
http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/vangogh/slideshow/slide_work15.html
Shortish paragraphs about three night paintings of Arles ("Starry
Night over the Rhone", "Cafe Terrace at Night", and "The Starry
Night") - the night heavens, religious impulse, artificial gas
lighting, luminosity and colour.
"Starry Night over the Rhone":
http://www.accents-n-art.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/starry_night_over_the_rhone.html
BIOGRAPHY:
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam:
"The Van Gogh Museum...houses the world's largest collection of works
by Vincent van Gogh: some 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 700 letters,
as well as the artist's own collection of Japanese prints."
"Van Gogh's Life" in five time frames: 1853-1879, 1880-85, 1886-87,
1888, 1889, 1890.
At the museum and on-line, "Van Gogh's work is organised
chronologically into five periods, each representing a different phase
of his life and work: The Netherlands, Paris, Arles, Saint-Rémy and
Auvers-sur-Oise."
"Other Artists" with some connection to van Gogh.
The site is cross-referenced to offer insights worth exploring, but
that aren't obvious unless you go exploring (unfortunately, some links
don't work).
The "Virtual Tour" requires a download and online registration.
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
"Biography of Vincent van Gogh and his Art Technique":
Although it doesn't specifically discuss "Starry Night Over the
Rhone", it is interesting for the discussion of van Gogh's painting
techniques in the context of artists he admired, his predecessors and
his contemporaries - the "Connection between Vincent van Gogh's life
and Art Technique".
http://home.wanadoo.nl/vincentvangogh/biography/index.html
Biography.com entry page for Vincent van Gogh:
http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=3519
"The Studio of the South -- Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in early
1888..."
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bio.htm
"Vincent van Gogh Biography"
The reference cited: *"Vincent Van Gogh - Art Life and Letters",
Bernard Zurcher, Thunder Bay Press, 1985.
http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/vangogh/van_gogh.html
artnet Research Library :
- "Artist's Biographies" (Vinnie is under "G" for "Gogh, Vincent
[Willem] van)
- "Materials and Techniques"
- "Styles and Movements" -- impressionism, post-impressionism,
neo-impressionism, symbolism, cloisonnism, synthetism, expressionism,
formalism, pointillism, primitivism, modernism, whathaveyouism,
ismism...
http://www.artnet.com/library/
"Vincent Van Gogh" by Lara Grieve:
A short bio that mentions some of the *influences on his unique work.
"He wrote in a letter from Arles, *'The emotions are sometimes so
strong that one works without being aware of working...and the strokes
come with a sequence and coherence like words in a speech or a
letter.'"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/news_comment/artistsinprofile/vangogh.shtml
MOVEMENT:
"Long discussions with Gauguin and Bernard, however, led Van Gogh to
the belief that he should abandon Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism.
In Februrary 1888 he left for Arles, hoping to find in the Midi, of
which Lautrec had spoken to him, more light and more colour. Realizing
that the development of his painting must henceforward follow the path
of colour, he reacted very quickly, once he had left Paris, against
Impressionism and its allusive character."
LAROUSSE DICTIONARY OF PAINTERS
NY: Mallard Press (©1989). p154
The anchor entry for *"art movement":
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/Art.html#anchor1977571
-*Post-Impressionism:
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/postimp.html
"'Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I
use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly.'"
"In February of 1888, the craving for sunlight and warmth drove van
Gogh south to Arles. There he painted more than 200 canvases in 15
months."
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/postimp.vangogh.html
Additional Links:
About half of this page presents the case for a Symbolist
interpretation of "La Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône" and several other
paintings in the context of colour (in French).
"Van Gogh et le Symbolisme":
"«La nuit étoilée sur le Rhône» (1888) est un tableau 'sans noir, rien
qu'avec du beau , du violet et du vert' écrit Van Gogh."
"Van Gogh écrivait à son frère Théo, dans une lettre datant de
septembre 1888: '...Trois nuits durant, j'ai veillé à peindre, en me
couchant pendant la journée. Souvent il me semble que la nuit est bien
plus vivante et richement colorée que le jour...'."
http://www.chez.com/jeremy13/Van_gogh/symbol.htm
"Van Gogh & Gauguin" exhibit on-line:
Check into "Background", especially *"The story" and *"Technique" for
insight into the artists work at Arles - also "Publications" for a
more extensive *bibliography of primary and secondary print sources.
"Starry Night Over the Rhone" isn't listed as a work included in the
interactive "Experience".
http://www.vangoghgauguin.com/
Hyper-linked reference.
"ArtLex Art Dictionary":
http://www.artlex.com/
Chronology:
"1889" [w/ link to painting]
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/chrono.htm
"Starry Night Over the Rhone"
Oil on canvas
72.5 x 92.0 cm.
Arles: September, 1888
F 474, JH 1592
Paris: Musée d'Orsay
At the bottom of page lists *influences on him: Ses lectures, Maîtres,
relations et amis peintres (in French).
http://www.art-van-gogh.com/bioframe3.html
Chronology (in French):
Very briefly runs through six of his paintings that include the night
sky.
Van Gogh, le peintre des étoiles:
http://www.astrosurf.com/skylink/publi/crepus21/vangogh.html
187 paintings of this period.
Arles, February 1888 - May 1889:
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/by_period/arles.htm
Overview of the paintings, general, brief, and helpful.
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/overview.htm
A longish, general encyclopedic entry, cross referenced to related
artists and 'isms' - note the nod to night, light, colour, and symbol
(in French).
artecum | Encyclopédie | Grands peintres | Van Gogh:
"Ces éclats lumineux qui percent l'obscurité sont encore le sujet de
plusieurs dessins représentant la nuit étoilée sur le Rhône et de deux
paysages nocturnes avec cyprès et village. Symbole de lumière et de
chaleur, la couleur jaune est présente dans la majorité des oeuvres de
l'artiste. Elle devient fleur dans les bouquets de tournesols dont il
décore sa maison."
http://www.artecum.com/fr/encyclo/pein/vangogh.htm
Dedicated to the life and works. The section essays present van Gogh's
works in relation to the Impressionist, Expressionist,
Neo-Impressionist, Fauvist and Cubist movements, and to the influence
of the Orient (Japan). Also a biography, chronology, and gallery of
107 images (34 of which are from Arles 1888-90). Written by someone
familiar with the territory, but it seems too speculative to have been
written by an art historian (in French). Undocumented.
"Sur les traces de Vincent van Gogh":
http://www.chez.com/jeremy13/Van_gogh/
Directory:
Artcyclopedia: "Vincent van Gogh online":
"Paintings in Museums and Art Galleries"
"Pictures from Image Archives"
"Other Web Sites"
"Articles"
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/van_gogh_vincent.html
Directory:
Broad and deep resource directory - dip and explore the subjects,
themes, movements, times, and peoples. For example, *"19th century
art" contains numerous links for van Gogh, post-impressionism, etc.
"Art History Resources on the Web"
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html
World Arts and Cultures Directory:
The arts on the web.
http://www.zeroland.co.nz/
The arts on the web list of links.
http://www.zeroland.co.nz/van_gogh.html
General art historical considerations:
Form, content, and context. Other chapters of the handbook may be
helpful for concept and organization.
Art History: A Preliminary Handbook, by Robert J. Belton (Department
of Fine Arts, Okanagan University College). "The Elements of Art":
http://www.arts.ouc.bc.ca/fina/elements.html
Four other exhibits:
NB: do not include "Starry Night Over the Rhone", but may be valuable
for other information:
1. The exhibition brochure (biographical, with link to a chronology).
National Gallery of Art: "Van Gogh's Van Goghs":
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/vgbro.htm
You can take a virtual tour of the exhibit - the works are on loan
from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.:
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/vgwel.htm
2. Advertisement for an exhibit of his portraits and self-portraits,
but you may "Listen to an introduction from curator George
Shackelford".
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: "Van Gogh - Face to Face":
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/vangogh/
3. Three paintings (#141, 142, & 143) with descriptions.
MFA, Boston:
http://www.mfa.org/handbook/portrait.asp?id=270&s=6
4. Eighteen works with brief descriptions.
Metropolitan Museum:
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/result.asp?Artist=gogh
Musée d'Orsay:
http://www.musee-orsay.fr
62 Rue de Lille Paris 75007
tel: (33-1) 40 49 48 14
Placement of van Gogh's works held by the museum in an art historical
context -
For a description of the presentation of the van Gogh paintings in
their collection:
"The next rooms in the Galerie des Hauteurs are devoted to Manet and
Whistler and to the spread of Impressionism at the time of the group
exhibitions with Degas, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and
Caillebotte, painter and patron whose bequest in 1897 brought a large
number of works of his friends into the Musée du Luxembourg. Following
the galleries devoted to Monet and Renoir after 1880 come Cézanne and
Van Gogh, displayed together as they both come from the Gachet
collection.
The innovative tendencies of the next generation - with Redon, Gauguin
and the Pont-Aven painters, the Neoimpressionism of Signac, Seurat and
their friends, the Nabis and Toulouse-Lautrec - are exhibited in the
Bellechasse gallery."
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/ORSAY/orsaygb/COLLEC.NSF/3773d3f987a94472c12567240053e8be/a47fda0708b55551c12567300032c4c4?OpenDocument
This is exclusively about the Saint-Rémy painting and especially about
the night sky. It doesn't even mention the Arles "Starry Night" but
some of the ideas presented may apply, it's well footnoted, and it
includes a bibliography to pursue if any ideas do transfer.
"Synthesis in Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night":
http://www.jeffandlauren.net/old/lauren/old/Next/art/starry_night/
For a brief curated tour of some of the paintings held by the Musée
d'Orsay, including van Gogh's "The Siesta" (after Millet)
Dec1889-Jan1890 and "The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the
Chevet) June1890:
Visits to the works of van Gogh's 'Galerie des Hauteurs'
contemporaries may prove helpful for context.
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/ORSAY/orsaygb/Collec.nsf/3773d3f987a94472c12567240053e8be/4d3a1ba66a28e81bc12567240058d3c2?OpenDocument
art and culture network: Van Gogh:
Organized for liberal contextual study.
http://www.artandculture.com/arts/artist?artistId=174
"Van Gogh's Agony" by Lauren Soth (Dept. of Art and Art History,
Carleton College):
...as it appeared in "The Art Bulletin", v.68, June 1986.
...the focus of this art historical study is the 1889 St.-Rémy
painting of "Starry Night" -- the 1888 Arles paintings of "Starry
Night over the Rhone" and "Café Terrace at Night" are treated as part
of its *conceptual history.
http://www.msu.edu/course/ha/446/vangoghsagony.pdf
Some BOOKS to look into, especially the first two:
*Shapiro, Meyer. Van Gogh. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company,
Inc., 1980.
*Rewald, John, Post-Impressionism from Van Gogh to Gauguin, New York
1956.
Boime, Albert (1984). "Van Gogh's Starry Night: A History of Matter
and a Matter of History," Arts Magazine 59, No. 4 (December, 1984),
86-103.
Whitney, Charles A. (1986). "The Skies of Vincent Van Gogh," Art
History (1986), 351-62.
Hardy, William. The History and Techniques of the Great Masters: Van
Gogh. Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1987.
Pach, Walter. Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890. 1936.
Nemeczek, A., Van Gogh in Arles, Munich/London/New York 1999.
Pickvance, Ronald, Van Gogh in Arles, exh. cat. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York 1984.
Silverman, Debora, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Search for Sacred Art,
New York 2000.
Erickson, Kathleen Powers. At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision
of Vincent Van Gogh.
Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches.
Kodera, Tsukasa. Vincent van Gogh: Christianity versus Nature.
Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1990.
Vincent van Gogh. 2 Volumes. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.
Walther, Ingo F. Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Paintings. Koln:
Bendedikt Taschen, 1993. 2 volumes.
Catalogues raisonnés:
1a. Faille, J.-B. de la. «L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh. Catalogue
raisonné».
4 vol. 1664 Nos. Paris / Brussels 1928.
1b. ---. The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings.
Rvsd. ed. New York: Reynal, 1970.
2. Hulsker, Jan. «The New Complete van Gogh. Paintings, Drawings,
Sketches».
Amsterdam/Philadelphia 1996.
I hope this helps. Please accept my apologies for the delay in posting
my answer but there were circumstances beyond my control. If you have
any questions, please post a clarification request before rating my
answer.
Thank you,
hummer
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"van gogh"
We have an extensive list of art history sites bookmarks and they
comprised the vast majority of our work as well as consulting books we
have on hand. |