Face to face with Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night

By Alex P. Vidal

“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.”

—Don McLean in “Vincent”

I HAD the privilege to see face-to-face Vincent van Gogh’s real The Starry Night (Saint Remy, June 1889) currently being displayed at the The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries on 5^th floor of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

Thanks to UNIQLO, MoMA’s partner of #ArtForAll, which gave us free entrance as New York residents on May 3. UNIQLO NYC Nights is an event held in the first Friday of each month.

MoMA is actually staying open late on the first Friday of every month and admission is free just for New Yorkers. Its galleries are constantly changing to share new artists and ideas, “and we want you to be a part of it,” says MoMa admission ticket sent to yours truly online.

In creating this image of the night sky—dominated by the bright moon at right and Venus at center left—van Gogh heralded modern painting’s new embrace of mood, expression, symbol, and sentiment.

Inspired by the view from his window at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Remy, in southern France, where the artist spent twelve months in 1889–90 seeking reprieve from his mental illnesses, The Starry Night (made in mid-June) is both an exercise in observation and a clear departure from it.

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The vision took place at night, yet the painting, among hundreds of artworks van Gogh made that year, was created in several sessions during the day, under entirely different atmospheric conditions.

The picturesque village nestled below the hills was based on other views—it could not be seen from his window—and the cypress at left appears much closer than it was. And although certain features of the sky have been reconstructed as observed, the artist altered celestial shapes and added a sense of glow.

Van Gogh assigned an emotional language to night and nature that took them far from their actual appearances.

Dominated by vivid blues and yellows applied with gestural verve and immediacy, The Starry Night also demonstrates how inseparable van Gogh’s vision was from the new procedures of painting he had devised, in which color and paint describe a world outside the artwork even as they telegraph their own status as, merely, color and paint.

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MEET THE 10 NEW SUPERFOODS. The superstars — blueberries, almonds, tomatoes, flaxseeds, broccoli, red wine, salmon, olive oil, edamme, brown rice. The understudy — strawberries, peanuts, white button mushrooms, beer, sunflower seeds, cauliflower,  trout, safflower oil, black beans, barley. Source: Sally Kuzemchak, R.D., Fitness: Mind, Body + Spirit

OUTSMARTING A SNACK ATTACK. Eating two small snacks a day can help us lose weight. Trouble is, research shows that we’re munching more than ever before–choosing foods that are high in calories and fat–and packing on the pounds as a result. “Often we’re not even hungry, but because we’re surrounded by food, we’re tempted to eat anyway,” says Kerry Neville, Ph.D. of American Dietetic Assn.

RESPECT THEIR PRIVACY, PLEASE. If cops in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho suspect a couple is having sex inside a vehicle they must honk their horn three times and wait two minutes before being allowed to approach the scene.

LET US STAND UP BEFORE TOUCHING THE TOILET HANDLE.  One in three people flush while sitting down. If we are one of them, let us consider this: When we flush, droplets of water spray in the air. That means we can be exposed to bacteria, which increases our risk of getting a urinary tract infection (UTI). Source: Soap and Water & Common Sense.

POPULAR BRA. According to a U.S. market research firm, the most popular American bra size is currently 36C, up from 1991 when it was 34B.

POWERFUL GRASS. God wants us to live like the grass. Inspite of being stepped on, crushed, burned, or cut, it always persists and grow back…even greener and stronger. A blessed Monday to everyone.

IN BED TOGETHER. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime-time television were Fred and Wilma Fintstone.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)