1890
oil
canvas
From the collection of Kröller-Müller Museum
Road with Cypress and Star is a 1890 oil by Vincent van Gogh, a Post-Impressionism work, depicting Road, held at Kröller-Müller Museum.
This painting shows a winding road with a dark, towering cypress tree to its left. The road leads to a small village in the distance, with a few buildings and a church steeple visible. In the sky above, a bright yellow star shines down on the scene. The painting's colors are vibrant and expressive, with thick brushstrokes and heavy textures that give the image a sense of energy and movement. The overall effect is one of dynamic tension, as if the road and the cypress tree are pulling the viewer's eye upward toward the star. The painting's use of bold colors and expressive brushwork creates a sense of drama and emotion, drawing the viewer into the scene. To learn more about the artist's techniques, look up "chiaroscuro".
Road with Cypress and Star (Dutch: Cypres bij sterrennacht), also known as Country Road in Provence by Night, is an 1890 oil-on-canvas painting by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the last painting he made in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. The painting is part of the large van Gogh collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park at Otterlo in the Netherlands.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Road with Cypress and Star was painted in May 1890. In an earlier letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote that cypresses were "always occupying [his] thoughts" and that he found them "beautiful of line" and proportioned like an Egyptian obelisk. He had also intended on painting a night-time view of the trees since his stay in Arles in 1888. Erickson suggests that the painting is influenced by the Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, visible in the prominent road and cypress tree. The painting is one of several in which van Gogh uses cypresses prominently, and — as in Road with…
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
According to Kathleen Powers Erickson, Road with Cypress and Star more strongly reflects van Gogh's belief that he would soon die than the earlier painting The Starry Night. She supports this by comparing the evening star on the left of the painting, which is barely visible, to the emerging crescent moon on the right side; the cypress tree in the middle, which divides these symbols of the old and the new, is described as an "obelisk of death". an indication of van Gogh's need for companionship. Naomi Maurer also writes that Road with Cypress and Star reflects the painter's feeling that he…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.
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