V. Van Gogh “Starry Night”
V. Van Gogh “Starry Night” (1889)
The painting “Starry Night” is another masterpiece, the author of which, the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), considered his failure. The work was recognized as a cult work after a while. The work even became an “icon” for the Expressionists. Expressionist artists did not strive to reproduce the world around them, but to convey to the viewer their own emotional state using form and color.
Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” while he was in a mental hospital in the south of France. Patients were forbidden to go outside, so the artist created it in the bedroom, looking out the window. The stars evoked special sensations in Van Gogh. He wrote to his brother: “Looking at the stars always makes me dream.”
The artist created the picture in a state of heightened perception of reality. This, according to art historians, as well as the power of imagination allowed him to see the night sky as no one had seen it before.
But the picture seems implausible only at first glance.
The vortex flows in the night sky, which Van Gogh depicted, according to researchers, are nothing more than turbulence, and the largest star with a white halo in the picture is Venus. This planet could be observed in the south of France just in May 1889. Assignment for the child:
Ask your child: what does he see in the picture? What surprises him when he looks at the work? What colors can he name?
J. Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
J. Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665)
The portrait “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by the iconic Dutch artist Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) is one of the most mysterious paintings of the millennium. And the painter himself is recognized as one of the greatest masters of painting of the Golden Age of Holland.
The painting was made in the “troni” genre, popular in the 17th century, translated from Dutch as “head, face”. These are small portraits in which the model was depicted in some unusual costume.
Fans and art critics are amazed by how realistic Vermeer’s portrait of the girl was, her turn of the head and gaze... The uniqueness of the painting is also in the fact that the characters in the artist’s other canvases rarely look at each other and almost never at the viewer, but not the girl with a pearl earring .
Researchers still do not know for sure who is depicted in the painting. Just like the fact that the earring is a pearl. In 2021, specialists from the Dutch museum illuminated the painting with X-rays and analyzed the paint. It turned out that earlier the highlights on the earring looked different and the artist actually depicted it in the form of a flat silver or enamel pendant. But, despite this fact, the painting is still referred to as “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
To create his works, Vermeer used the best pigments available to artists in the 17th century, which gave the paintings luminosity.
In particular, natural ultramarine and what is now called “yellow of the old masters”. These two colors are exactly represented in the painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Task for the child:
Ask your child: who does he see in the picture? Let him describe the girl, how old could she be? What colors and shades does he see?
