Karis' Blog

Project Title: The 1889 Starry Night

Project Description:

Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night is fascinating because it portrays the shapes and figures of things most of us see every day- trees, starry skies, city lights – as something almost out of this world. In this painting, the contours of our world are barely recognizable as we see a breathtaking arrangement of swirls and satisfying blends of colors absent from our daily views.

The painting is even more remarkable when its context is considered. First, Van Gogh painted The Starry Night from behind the iron bars of the asylum he had checked himself into. Second, in his state of madness, Van Gogh captured a stunningly accurate visual representation of turbulence, a mathematical concept relevant in physics which has been called “one of the most supremely difficult concepts nature has ever brought before mankind. This painting and its context has always made me wonder what the night looked like when Van Gogh looked out at it and picked up his paint brush. My final project will attempt to answer this question by creating an interactive space that simulates the scene that was the subject of The Starry Night. It will create a real life representation of the famous painting with elements intended to provoke thought about the incredible context of the painting.

Outcomes:

The major outcome will be a space: a small closet room with an opening and three walls on which will be pasted several photo prints that are stitched together to simulate the scene of The Starry Night. The scene will consist of 30 photos printed on letter sized paper. The photos will comprise one complete photo that was sectioned into 30 pieces on Rasterbator. The photos will present a realistic rendering of The Starry Night; a “real-life” version, similar to the way a live action movie is the real-life version of an animated one. In front of the doorway, there will be paper simulations of iron bars to show Van Gogh’s actual point of view, but viewers will be able to step past the paper bars and into the space to experience the scene more fully. Off to the side of the entrance to the small room, there will be an easel, to promote people to wonder how they would chose to depict the scene.

Materials and Methods:

I will take a picture of a night time scene that looks as similar as possible to The Starry Night. Using Photoshop, I will add elements that are missing. I will take pictures of a church and similar looking shrubs and trees and cut and paste them into the night time scene on Photoshop. Whatever elements I cannot find to photograph on my own, I’ll find on the internet and add the same way. For the large moon-like crescent in the right of The Starry Night, I’m going to find a picture of the planet Venus because astronomers believe based on the timing of the painting that that is what Van Gogh was looking at. Once the picture has been created on Photoshop and looks as realistic as possible, I will print the complete image using Rasterbator on 30 letter sized photos. I will put the picture back together on all three walls of the small closet space in the hallway outside our classroom. I may hang battery operated twinkle lights that I already own in my sky to simulate a multitude of stars and light up the space. I will tape five pieces of silver streamer hanging down in straight lines on the top of the doorway to simulate iron bars. I will buy a stand-up easel from Michaels Craft Store and place it to the side of the doorway.

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