Starry Night Over the Rhone is one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings of Arles at
night time. It was painted at a spot on the bank of the Rhone River that was
only a one or two-minute walk from the Yellow House on the Place Lamartine
which Van Gogh was renting at the time. The night sky and the effects of light
at night provided the subject for some of his more famous paintings, including
Cafe Terrace at Night and the later canvas from Saint-Rémy, The Starry
Night. A sketch of the painting is included in
a letter van Gogh sent to his friend Eugène Boch on October 2, 1888.
The painting was first exhibited in 1889 at the annual exhibition of the Société
des Artistes Indépendants in Paris, together with the Irises. The latter was
added by Theo, while Vincent had proposed one of his paintings from the
public gardens in Arles, most probably the version now in the Phillips
Collection. Subject matter
The view is from the quay on the east side of the Rhone, into the knee of the
river towards the western shore: coming down from the north, the Rhone turns to
the right at this point to surround the rocks on which Arles is built. From the
towers of Saint-Julien and Saint-Trophime at the left, the
spectator follows the east bank up to the iron bridge connecting Arles to the
suburb of Trinquetaille on the right, western bank. This implies a view from
Place Lamartine towards the south-west. 43.682367°N 4.630287°E﻿ / 43.682367;
4.630287 Genesis
Van Gogh announced and described this composition in a letter to his brother
Theo: Included a small sketch of a 30 square
canvas - in short the starry sky painted by night, actually under a gas jet. The
sky is aquamarine, the water is royal blue, the ground is mauve. The town is
blue and purple. The gas is yellow and the reflections are russet gold
descending down to green-bronze. On the aquamarine field of the sky the Great
Bear is a sparkling green and pink, whose discreet paleness contrasts with
the brutal gold of the gas. Two colorful figurines of lovers in the foreground.
In reality the view depicted in the painting faces away from Ursa Major,
which is to the north. The foreground indicates heavy rework, wet-in-wet, as
soon as the first state was finished. The letter sketches executed at this
time probably are based on the original composition.
Colors of the night The challenge of painting at night
intrigued Van Gogh. The vantage point he chose for Starry Night Over the Rhone
allowed him to capture the reflections of the gas lighting in Arles across the
glimmering blue water of the Rhône. In the foreground, two lovers stroll by the
banks of the river. Depicting color was of great importance
to Van Gogh. In letters to his brother, Theo van Gogh, he often described
objects in his paintings in terms of color. His night paintings, including
Starry Night Over the Rhone, emphasize the importance he placed on capturing
the sparkling colors of the night sky and of the artificial lighting that was
new to the era. In popular culture
The painting is referenced in Brian Eno and John Cale's song "Spinning Away"
from the 1990 album Wrong Way Up. In the second verse the singer's view is
described as "like the night sky at Arles".
Notes References
Boime, Albert: Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night. A history of matter, a matter of
history) Dorn, Roland: Décoration: Vincent van
Gogh's Werkreihe für das Gelbe Haus in Arles, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim,
Zürich & New York 1990 ISBN 3-487-09098-8 / ISSN 0175-9558
External links Media related to Starry Night Over the
Rhone at Wikimedia Commons