Starry Night Over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

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PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

I do not go for abstraction but can only paint what I see, and what I see is fascinating.  Do you not think the swirls of nature in the roots of trees is a work of beauty?  Or the wind-blown wheat in the field?

You say the lamp is clear and distinct, but you must be seeing it wrong, for there is an aura of light, a halo of being, around it.

And the stars in the sky, what wonders these points of light echoing through space!  The morning star on the horizon is almost as bright as the moon!

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Vincent van Gogh was against abstraction and painted from nature. His sketchbook is full of fascinating drawings that people of his day thought boring. All of the points on his famous painting “Starry Night” can be identified, from Venus on the horizon to the constellation Aries. The moon was gibbous on the night represented, but he abstracted it for the composition. One thing, though – there are a lot of people who think Vincent had Cataracts or another eye ailment that caused him to see halos around bright objects since he always painted them with halos. It isn’t uncommon, so there is a very strong possibility…

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Word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo © Dale Rogerson . Read more or join in by following the InLinkz “linky“.

50 thoughts on “Starry Night Over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence”

  1. Pingback: 75 – Night – Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I think artists often see the world in a different way than most people, but it is possible some really see it different! I don’t think there is any proof van Gogh had any issues with his vision, but it is an interesting theory.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks! I once read that if you can write legibly that you have the muscle control to draw like Leonardo, the rest is seeing and understanding what you see, and, wow, could van Gogh see!

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  8. Bear

    Even before I saw your note, I thought of Van Gogh. Such an artist. Tragic life. I can envision just how he would paint this scene… how each stroke would fall onto the canvas with its own light. Ahhhh, this was a great write this week. Love where it took my thoughts.

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  10. msjadeli

    Nice prose fiction, Trent. He may have been against abstraction but he may have, like you said, been in appreciation of the holiness of nature and so imbued it with a glow.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. I read that he used to have heated arguments with Gauguin about painting what you see vs abstraction. I recently saw a movie, At Eternity’s Gate, that did a great job showing it.

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  11. granonine

    Having just been through the removal of cataracts, I have complete sympathy with the idea that Van Gogh had them :)

    I really enjoyed this piece, as “Starry Night” is a favorite of mine. It hasn’t always been. It sort of grew on me over the years, and now I see, perhaps, more clearly through the artist’s eyes. Thanks for a most interesting post.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Ah, so you have first hand experience of the effect. Glad that in the modern age we can take care of them. I half ignored the painting until I visited the MoMA in NYC and saw it in person. I didn’t know it was there until I saw it. It was one of the few paintings I have seen that literally took my breath away. Now it, and most of van Gogh’s paintings are near the top of my list.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Rochelle. Most of the visual arts is learning to see… I haven’t heard that song in ages. It is a great song, and I love that video with all of the paintings

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Have you ever had your eyes dilated by an Optometrist? It isn’t the same, but you see star-bursts around everything as well as halos. Very cool, but I don’t knwo if I’d want to go through life that way! And the halo effect is also a sign of cataracts.

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      1. Tannille

        Ok, I retract my words, cataracts not good 😀. What you described sounds like the strobing light effect I’ve had a couple of time. Disco in the eyes. Weird experience that. I heard its the start of a migraine but it never developed into that.

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I once asked my doctor about the flashing I have occasionally gotten through life and he told me that it was a migraine, but I never had the headache part… Dilated pupils is different. If you’ve seen a photo where light source has beams, like a child’s drawing of a star, that is it.

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