ASUNCION, JAYVEE S.

BSA-1A

1.How did Vincent Van Gogh became famous?

 His widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, set about completing the task. She sold some of
Vincent’s works, loaned others out for exhibitions and – also very importantly –
published his letters to Theo. Van Gogh’s fascinating life story is one of the reasons why
his work gradually took the whole world by storm. Without Jo’s dedication, this would
never have been possible.

2.What is the story behind the Starry Night?

 At the asylum, van Gogh observed the night sky from his barred bedroom window and
wrote a letter to Theo describing a magnificent view of the morning star very early one
morning in the summer of 1889. Because he was not allowed to paint in his bedroom, he
painted the scene from memory or possibly drawings and used his imagination for the
small village that did not actually exist. Employing the expressive style, he had
developed during his stay in Paris in 1886–88, he applied the paint directly from the tube
onto the canvas, creating thick impasto and intense hues. Ambivalent about working
from his imagination, van Gogh eventually regarded the finished Starry Night as a
failure, and Theo frankly indicated that the painting favored style over substance.
The painting was one of van Gogh’s late works, as he committed suicide the following
year. His artistic career was brief, comprising only 10 years, but it was very productive.
He left more than 800 paintings and 700 to 850 drawings to his brother. When
the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City purchased The Starry Night from a
private collector in 1941, it was not well known, but it has since become one of van
Gogh’s most famous, if not one of the most recognized, works in the art history canon.

3.Who owns the Starry Night?

 From 1906 to 1938 it was owned by Georgette P. van Stolk, of Rotterdam, who sold it
to Paul Rosenberg, of Paris and New York. It was through Rosenberg that the Museum
of Modern Art acquired the painting in 1941.The Starry Night now lives in New York
thanks to Lillie P. Bliss. Bliss was the daughter of a textile merchant who used her grand
wealth to become one of the foremost collectors of modern art in the early 20th century.

4.Why is the Starry Night so famous?

 The Famous Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is considered to be one of his greatest
creations to date. The painting depicts a tranquil night on an average evening. The
ambiance in the painting evokes some rather strong emotions within the viewer And
perhaps it was the elements of abstraction that Van Gogh added, partly because he was
not allowed to paint the scene as it was in nature, the shapes and the flow of the sky and
how it relates to the ground, creating a oneness that has touched people over the years,
and resulted in it being the most popular work at the Museum of Modern Art.
5.How much did the Museum of Modern Art pay for starry night?

 It is impossible to place a value on such a famous and treasured work of art, though
other works by Van Gogh have sold for more than 80 million dollars at auction. As
arguably Van Gogh’s most famous work of art, it is safe to estimate the value of Starry
Night at well over 100 million dollars.It is important to remember, however, that there are
multiple ways of assessing the value of a painting such as Starry Night. On one hand,
like any work of art, it is worth what someone will pay for it. Since the painting was
donated to the New York Museum of Modern Art, there is no benchmark of what was
paid to acquire it to measure against in an effort to estimate its prospective appreciation.
On the other hand, one could argue that a painting of such caliber is priceless, which
means that no amount of money could compensate for its cultural and artistic
significance.

6.Why is the Starry Night displayed in MoMA?

 There is hardly an introduction that does Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night (1889)

justice. It is one of the most recognizable and beloved artworks in the world, and for
many MoMA visitors, it is the artwork to see—a celebrity perhaps signifying modern art
itself. Yet despite its fame, few viewers are likely familiar with the story behind this
unlikely masterpiece, one of the many nighttime paintings Van Gogh produced during his
stay at a mental hospital in Saint-Rémy, in the south of France.
Now available for the iPad, MoMA’s One on One series offers a sustained meditation
on The Starry Night by art historian Richard Thomson that sheds light on the painting
and transports readers to the environment in which it was created. In Thomson’s
engaging essay filled with vivid visual references and snippets of Van Gogh’s personal
correspondences, readers can catch a glimpse of the artist’s complex inner workings
and the thought processes that went into creating the nighttime scene.

7.Is the Starry Night worthy of appreciation?

 Yes, it is, Starry Night is so renowned and cherished today not because of the negative
feelings and experiences that influenced the artwork, but because of its simple
suggestions of hope. High lights, stars, shine on the dark night scenery in the mural.

8. Describe the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

 Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh was a work whose beauty, feeling and
color were the influences of the art of the twentieth century. In less than three years, Van
Gogh’s best art was made using a technique increasingly passionate about
brushstrokes, symbolic and intense color, surface tension and shape and line vibration.
The inimitable fusion of form and content by Van Gogh is powerful; dramatic, poetry,
imagination and emotional; for the artist was fully immersed, trying to explain his struggle
with folly or his understanding of man and nature's spiritual essence. He suffered with
mental disease and throughout his life was impoverished and almost invisible.
9. In the song Vincent what touches you most? Why?

 The lyrics, "Paint your palette blue and gray," represent the artwork's notable colors and
are most likely a reference to Vincent's habit of blowing on or biting his paintbrushes
while working. Van Gogh's humanitarian efforts and love of the socially outcast are
reflected in his paintings and sketches as "ragged men in ragged clothes" and "how you
tried to set them free." "They would not listen, they did not know how," Van Gogh's
relatives and also some colleagues who've been dismissive of his generosity to "the
wretched," are referred to.

10. What important lesson in life you have learned from the life of Vincent Van Gogh?
Explain it further!
 Don’t stop when you are tired, stop when you are done. Exhaustion is an ordinary
thing. You are destined to get weary because you try hard to fulfill everything.
However, your fatigue should not be the reason to stop you. You would never
achieve the optimum outcome if you leave due to exhaustion. You should carry on
with your work or objective, no matter how frustrated you are. Well, we all
understand that what you do is often difficult to continue. So, when you're
exhausted, the only thing you can do is rest. You can get energy back once you
rest. And you can continue with your goal again afterward. You must learn that rest
is important, too. If you don't rest, your energy will suddenly fade. And you can't
fulfill your dream as a result. So rest when needed, so don't stop. Do not stop and
so begin to do your job.