Van Gogh and the colours of the night

Excellent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York looking at how Van Gogh looked at the problem of how to use colour to depict darkness throughout his career.

Having read “The Yellow Book” recently, the story of the time Van Gogh and Gauguin spent together in Arles, it was particularly interesting to see many of the pictures from this period which I had read about it detail.

I loved the way he showed the sources of light in a very deliberate way. Stars and lamps show the rays of light leaving them as well as the objects themselves. Also the way the pictures work so well from a distances as a composition but up close you get the added element of texture and pattern.

The exhibition included many letters to his brother Theo which gives you a wonderful sense of his brother’s infinite patience with him!

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New York Times

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