Milky way vs Starry Night
I've decided to compare two similar looking but very contrasting landscape paintings by Peter Doig and Vincent Van Gogh.
Milky Way by Peter Doig. 1990
I love this painting. I saw it years ago at the Gallery of Modern Art and I was captivated by the size and the view. This painting falls a little under Abstract, though his work is influenced by the likes of Gauguin and Bonnard of the Post Impressionism movement. The trees are obscured slightly as their shapes morph in their reflection. The sweeping clustered dots across the sky drifting through various blues. I just can't get enough of the nostalgic feeling of looking up at the sky in the country and seeing the Milky Way amongst thousands of twinkling stars. He takes inspiration from literature and horror films symbolised by the small canoe and figure which is a nod to Friday the 13th.
There's a Hallucinatory nature to this painting which is achieved through the abstract nature of the trees and loose composition. Its a scene that kind of flows across the canvas. And despite it's contemporary position, it looks a lot older than it is. Which immediately made me think of the Starry Night painting which was painted just over 100 years earlier.
Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night 1889
Vincent has a prolific painter in the Post Impressionism movement. This was painted whilst he was in an Asylum, from memory. It is thought he was experiencing hallucinations and bouts of depression whilst painting. Which also affected the colours he used. He would be prone to use darker colours during these phases. this painting makes reference to a passage in the bible "...and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me" His desire to be accepted by his family possibly fuelled this concept.
I can always remember Van Gogh having a huge presence in my house as a child and this painting hung on the wall in the kitchen. I was always mesmerised by the swirling brush strokes and the sweeping tree top. How surreal it looks and then you notice the village at the bottom and it pops back into reality. I think for me its very well composed and leads the eye around the image nicely.
I think these two paintings have so much in common despite the dates of completion and appearance. I didn't realise how much Post Impressionist artists inspired Peter Doig but you can see it when you look closer. Both seem to be from views from a room with Gogh in an Asylum and Doig in his parents house as a student. Doig also paints in some of his works from memory. Each use deep blues in the night sky paired with a yellow or green. Its the perfect balance.
Overall these two images couldn't be more different in application but In themes and imagery there is more to these than meets the eye. A kind of nod to Symbolism. Also that dreamlike, ethereal state of mind which seduces us all at some point. I really love both these landscapes paintings. I chose them mainly to figure out what was so similar about them. And also although Van Gogh is a big name artist I still have a lot to learn about him and his work.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/peter-doigs-milky-way
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/151125/milky-way#related-media-anchor
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html
Milky Way by Peter Doig. 1990
I love this painting. I saw it years ago at the Gallery of Modern Art and I was captivated by the size and the view. This painting falls a little under Abstract, though his work is influenced by the likes of Gauguin and Bonnard of the Post Impressionism movement. The trees are obscured slightly as their shapes morph in their reflection. The sweeping clustered dots across the sky drifting through various blues. I just can't get enough of the nostalgic feeling of looking up at the sky in the country and seeing the Milky Way amongst thousands of twinkling stars. He takes inspiration from literature and horror films symbolised by the small canoe and figure which is a nod to Friday the 13th.
There's a Hallucinatory nature to this painting which is achieved through the abstract nature of the trees and loose composition. Its a scene that kind of flows across the canvas. And despite it's contemporary position, it looks a lot older than it is. Which immediately made me think of the Starry Night painting which was painted just over 100 years earlier.
Vincent has a prolific painter in the Post Impressionism movement. This was painted whilst he was in an Asylum, from memory. It is thought he was experiencing hallucinations and bouts of depression whilst painting. Which also affected the colours he used. He would be prone to use darker colours during these phases. this painting makes reference to a passage in the bible "...and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me" His desire to be accepted by his family possibly fuelled this concept.
I can always remember Van Gogh having a huge presence in my house as a child and this painting hung on the wall in the kitchen. I was always mesmerised by the swirling brush strokes and the sweeping tree top. How surreal it looks and then you notice the village at the bottom and it pops back into reality. I think for me its very well composed and leads the eye around the image nicely.
I think these two paintings have so much in common despite the dates of completion and appearance. I didn't realise how much Post Impressionist artists inspired Peter Doig but you can see it when you look closer. Both seem to be from views from a room with Gogh in an Asylum and Doig in his parents house as a student. Doig also paints in some of his works from memory. Each use deep blues in the night sky paired with a yellow or green. Its the perfect balance.
Overall these two images couldn't be more different in application but In themes and imagery there is more to these than meets the eye. A kind of nod to Symbolism. Also that dreamlike, ethereal state of mind which seduces us all at some point. I really love both these landscapes paintings. I chose them mainly to figure out what was so similar about them. And also although Van Gogh is a big name artist I still have a lot to learn about him and his work.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/peter-doigs-milky-way
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/151125/milky-way#related-media-anchor
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html
Comments
Post a Comment