img752 Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Description of Edvard Munch’s painting "Starry Night"

The stars have always attracted Munch, serving as a mysterious object of his creative worship. He painted several paintings united by a common theme. One of them is Starry Night. More precisely, not just one, there were several. Munch had one peculiarity - to paint his canvases in different variations. Such was the case with this painting.

"Starry Night," 1922, is depicted on a moonlit winter night. This view was familiar to the artist, as it is the sky from the window of his home. But this did not diminish Munch’s love of the mysterious starry sky.

This is expressed in the way the author paints the details of his work: snowdrifts underfoot are marked carelessly, without special care, while the sky with shimmering stars captures the eye completely.

At the same time, Munch does not seek solitude. He fills the painting with light coming from the windows of distant houses, which adds some warmth to the subject. It blends with the moonlight, and this fusion is the basis of ghostliness and mystery.

The predominant blue color and bright green explosions in the night sky add vividness and emotional openness to the work.

One can feel that the painter didn’t strive for brightness of emotions when painting the world around him. Rather it reeks of calmness and sincerity, makes you think deeply about the strangeness of life. Despite the apparent simplicity and the childish manner of painting, the true connoisseur understands that the picture is made by the hand of a master, a professional and genius.

All his life Munch, according to the words of his contemporaries, belonged only to art. His personal life did not work out. In addition, after a number of failures, Munch suffered from depressive psychosis, from which he was treated for a long time in a specialized hospital. Munch’s talent was certainly recognized, despite his state of mind. The artist died in his own chair with a volume of Dostoevsky in his hands.