Loving Vincent and Blue

With a Joy Today

With turning 21 years old, I wanted to write a blog post according to embrace with an artist who is important for me in terms of leading me to find my inner self. Approximately every person has its own personal favorite, especially in the field of arts. My favorite is basically counted as “the Blue”. This is special because I adore blue, which is my favorite color. It resembles with my soul and my journey to become myself. Therefore, I wanted to write this blog post to share who am I and who I adore in arts. This is going to be so emotional and special for me. Thank you, I really wanted to say in the very beginning of this post. Thank you. Teşekkür ederim. Gracias. Dank je. Tak. Merci.

Why The Color Blue?

Every color is unique, containing different meanings, like a symbol. Those meanings have a changeable structure, they can differ from person to person. So, it brings out people’s identity and their perspective. Blue… Blue is the only color that I find as the best suit for me to wear in my entire life. According to my blue means “calm”, with a basic saying. On the other hand, it reminds me of having fun and being independent. Like the sky, I have to say. So blue, with different kinds, is pretty changeable, like the concept of life- or the moment. This structure of blue gives a unique taste of freedom to itself, making its own structure flexible, like water. I adore blue, because for me blue means life, with ups and downs, good and bad, happy to sad, victory and defeat, stability and fluidity. The list is going on. The list is up to the person’s perspective. Therefore blue means creativity, for me. It can be the result of Picasso’s depression period (known as “The Blue Period”) and Van Gogh’s vision towards the concept of life in the night.

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”- Van Gogh (Thank you, we are thinking the same!)

My First Meeting With Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh has a different meaning in my mind. The journey of mine related to Van Gogh started when I was a little child, I was 8 years old. First, I saw his one of the most famous paintings which are known as “The Starry Night”. This painting created a beginning for me to adore both the color blue and Vincent van Gogh. I was in the painting class in elementary school and having some information about Van Gogh. That information from that day made my perspective change in a very serious manner.

“Why I say to myself, should the spots of light in the firmament be less accessible to us than the black spots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to go to a star” – Van Gogh

The Starry Night

Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” (1889) painting is one of the most well-known masterpieces of him, worldwide. The importance and attention are coming from Van Gogh’s mind in terms of making compositions between the inner world and the outer world. Using the color blue in different ways, “The Starry Night” has become one of the glamourous brushstrokes in the world of art. The painting was created when Vincent Van Gogh was in the asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provence. It drives two different approaches, good and bad, at the same time. It basically differs from person to person. Differ from perspective to perspective. The positive approach to Van Gogh’s painting relies on the magic coming with the night. As being the first solid impression of the view of Van Gogh, the hidden lights are making a tornado-like scene on the painting, resembles with the idea of the hidden beauty inside the darkness or with another saying, seeing what is hidden. I agree with this approach because I believe that the night is the best time of a day, hiding the cracks of the buildings, showing how stars shine away from the chaos of the rush hours and the busy state of the daytime. Sometimes the moon is more beautiful than the sunlight. The negative approach through the painting relies on the “end of the world” scenario. The composition of lights in the painting makes a catastrophic sense which is supporting the scenario of “end of the world”. The way of making art in Van Gogh is speechless. Even at the asylum with the complex inner world, Van Gogh is finding both happiness and sadness at the same time. Like the concept of life.

“I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”-Van Gogh (1889)

For More Information:

Vincent Van Gogh- “Starry Night”, 1889

Oil on Canvas

73.7 cm x 92.1 cm

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York