Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night--Use of Color

Van Gogh would reinvent color if it meant the brushstroke that harmonized his painting. But this is only to say partly that he was influenced by the Impressionists, and partly that he was meticulous. What we see in this exhibition, however, we see through Van Gogh’s willingness to let color determine the realization of his vision of each piece.

I will talk about only two paintings from the exhibition, unfortunately leaving some other obvious ones out. The first is one of Van Gogh’s many paintings of a sower; the second is a painting entitled Night (after Millet).

The Sower, a smaller copy of a larger painting, is one of Van Gogh’s most striking experiments in color. A sower in the foreground casts seed along a broad path, and the small painting is cut in half by a Japanese-inspired tree. But the tree, which would otherwise be dominating, only draws our attention to the neon sky laced with pink clouds, and to the enormous and thickly painted sun setting over the field. The sky in this painting is an anomaly in my experience of art. And the original painting, which is in the exhibition catalogue, is gorgeous, complete, and refined; its smaller copy is shocking and just as charming.

It is almost impossible to describe the second painting that I have mentioned, Night (after Millet). A family of three sits before the hearth, the parents doing chores by the light of the lamp. The infant sleeps under the lamp, and is barely detailed. The mother half faces outward, reflecting whites and pinks and greens. The father gives us his back, a deep clay in the shadows. I mention this lovely scene of the holy family only because it is lovely.