Hi Jasmine:
Sorry, you are right . I saw it at Museum of Modern "Art" ( MOMA) in New York city.

在法國巴黎的奧塞美術館看到另一幅有關星夜的畫作:"隆河上的星夜"..梵谷做此作品時為這幅畫做了下列的註腳:"這阻止不了我對宗教熱切的渴望,於是,夜裡我走到室外,想畫星星.我一直夢想著一幅像這樣的畫,畫裡有朋友結伴同行"
Regarding to Starry Night over the Rhone, the following description is what I have found from my book

Here, everything lies spread beneath the sparkling tranquility of the natural lights in the heavens. Painting the stars out in the open-that was Van Gogh's achievement in the night picture. " I am tremendously gripped by the problem of painting night scenes or nighttime effects on the spot, actually at night," he wrote ( letter 537 with his brother) Taking a man of letters, a creative artist, Van Gogh had located a way of projecting his idea of stars as a utopian counterworld of the imagination where the artist might find a home. The better world which his entire creative energy sought at that time was up in the stars.

" Death may possibly not be the hardest thing in the life of a painter. I must declare that I know nothing about them, but when I look at the satrs I always start dreaming , as readily as when the black points that indicate towns and villages on a map always start me dreaming. Why, I wonder, should be the shining points of the heavens be less accessible to us than the black dots on a map of France ? Just as we take a train in order to travel to Tarascon or Rouen, we use death in order to reach a star. In one respect this thought is undoubtedly true: we can no more travel to a star while we are alive than we can take a train once we are dead. At all events, it does not strike me as impossiible that cholera, kidney stones, cancer and consumption should be means of celestial transport just as steamers and railways are earthly ones. To die peacefully of old age would be the equivalent of going on foot." This passage from letter 506 is crucial to an understanding of suicide that ended van Gogh's life but for the moment we can take it as defining two areas: a remote one ( longed for and unattainable) out in the universe; and one in this world, quite concretely located in Arles, involving all the routine drudgery of everyday life.



A drawing will not just be a drawing when we start to share the thoughts and feelings of artist who paint it. It can be a medicine that can cure our sorrow and bring us back to the life we should cherish. Do you agree ?


Do you like impressionism? I like Monet and was dreaming to visit Giverney where he created to paint the famous water lily series.
Do you like gardening or flower arrangement? Maybe someday, we can talk about it. Right now, I am counting the days to enjoy spring blossom show. I hope the bulbs I planted last fall including crocus, daffodil,hyacinth and tulip last fall won't disappoint me in this coming spring. Iris may be the next candidate for me to plant for the sake of Van Gogh. ^-^



Tainan boy