This essay is about Starry Night by Edvard Munch. It is an in depth analysis of this painting. It discusses the style, lighting, mood, and texture. This painting is at the Getty Museum.

Essay by crazydeoUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, May 2002

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This abstract painting, Starry Night, by Edvard Munch represents a Norwegian landscape in which the style he paints it in expresses his feelings and we can see them through the use of various elements. The foreground which is defined by the rhythmic shoreline, includes a white fence set diagonally entrapping clumps of bushes and trees on which we can also see the shadow of two lovers embracing each other in the dark. The sky is filled with specks of stars and soft lighting which comes from the moon hidden behind the heavy clouds. The ocean glistens caused by the reflection of the stars and the moon. The dark analogous colors convey the sadness and loneliness that Munch is probably felt. It also gives a sense of spirituality in the horizon since the end of the ocean is never actually seen. He shows us that there is no end in nature only the mind of man who may sees the landscape differently according to his mood can make an end.

In the vast distance, the land on the left side of the composition is barely visible and even further away, the land behind the large clump of trees is practically invisible unless it is meticulously observed. By this he produces an infinite ocean which does not necessarily mean that the viewer will not see the end of the water created by the shoreline in the distant land since it is the viewer who produces a picture that expresses his own personal feelings of continuing or ending. Munch captures the emotions set by the starry night rather than to simply record the landscape.

Since we mainly see the organic shapes of the shore, bushes, trees and distant land, our attention is directed to the obvious differing geometric shape which is the rectangular...