Starry Night by Van Gogh

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             Under the sky, the mountains appear with dark shadows. However, the crashed curves make them appear similar to running water. Even if the mountains, which are absolutely impossible to move or shift, are unable to be unaffected by Van Gogh's unstable inner-world at all, below the rolling hills of the horizon lies a small town. Such a dark and quiet small town produces many imaginations and forces the audience to recall the fear of the dark night when they were children. The tone of the painting shows the artist's fear and dark inner-world along with his fading hope. The most obvious building in the center of the small town is the church. When Van Gogh was young, he sympathized with the poor and he wanted to devote himself to religion. This is a possible explanation to why he painted the church as the dominant building. In addition, the number of stars hanging in the sky is eleven, which probably is also because of his interest with religion. In order to give prominence to the position of the church, in his mind, he draws a straight standing church with clear lines. Thus, the tall spire of the church suggests that it should govern the whole town, which echoes with Van Gogh's attitude towards the church and religion.
             There is a huge structure to the left of the painting. Compared to the scale of other object at the far location of the painting, it is distinctly larger than them. That massive, dark object is a cypress tree. The cypress tree should be green, yet it becomes red- brown under the paintbrush of Van Gogh, which reflects the artist's passion. The shape of the cypress tree is like a burning blaze, which mirrors the artist's struggle in his inner-world. The cypress tree grows taller and taller; and, the highest point of the cypress tree nearly reaches the edge of the painting, and even out of it, which reflects the artist's strong desire of escaping from the insanity and the asylum, resulting in his freedom.