Star Man: Vincent van Gogh’s Illuminated Nights
Michael Lobel | MoMA Magazine | 17th July 2024
An interesting pairing – van Gogh and industrialisation. From early in his painting career, van Gogh was fascinated by new forms of building and street lighting and the way it transformed “modern experience”. For him, illumination became “a full-blown artistic motif”. In his famous Starry Night, for example, celestial light is combined with lit windows throughout the village. Perhaps van Gogh was marvelling at the beauty of the night sky while the villagers marvelled at abundant gaslight and how it held the night at bay.