Art Travel Guide

Me and the Starry Night – Unite!

New York is not just the home of the Yankees or Broadway shows… it’s also the home of one of the greatest oil paintings of modern times… the Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

For years I have wanted to come face to face with this great masterpiece, as I walked through the corridors of the MoMA – Museum of Modern Art on 53rd and Fifth Ave the excitement began to soar. I made my way to the fourth floor of this amazing facility, walking past the Richard Serra Exhibition and the other great works of art. I encountered Rothko’s, Picasso’s, Mondrian’s, Gauguin’s, Cezanne’s, Matisse’s… the excitement grew even more as I began to see Van Gogh’s on the wall.

I guess I wasn’t the only visitor that day that came to see the Starry Night masterpiece. People where cramming in to get a glimpse of the artwork, two guards were assigned to keep people away from the glass and make sure no one tried anything stupid…

“This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise,” the artist wrote to his brother Theo, “with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big.” Rooted in imagination and memory, the Starry Night embodies an inner, subjective expression of Van Gogh’s response to nature.

In thick sweeping brushstrokes, a flame like cypress unites the churning sky and the quiet village below. The village was partly invented, and the church spirit evokes Van Gogh’s native land, the Netherlands. The simple Vienna gold frame is a testament of the great masterpiece.

I felt truly grateful for that moment to unite with the Starry Night, I think that sensation would have been stronger if it wasn’t for the crowd and the thick glass. Oh well, I can always take comfort in the amazing Starry Night handmade reproduction I have at home…