Van Gogh vs. Munch: Starry Night and The Scream Compared

Introduction: Two Expressionist Visionaries

Edvard Munch, the painter of the famous Scream, and Vincent Van Gogh, the painter of the widely celebrated Starry Night, were both deeply affected expressionist painters who encountered French impressionism and admired Gauguin's symbolic boldness and abstract qualities. By depicting nightmarish lithographs of depraved sexuality, some of Munch's images harkened back to Gauguin. However, the similarities between Van Gogh and Munch are clear even where their work seems to occupy opposite ends of the spectrum, marked by several notable differences.

Both artists were influenced by expressionism, and this is reflected in similarities in the way each painter rendered his subjects. While there is no human figure in Starry Night, the wavy quality of its brushstrokes is similar to that seen in The Scream. Both artists came from Northern Europe — Van Gogh from the Netherlands and Munch from Norway — and expressionism flourished across several regions, with Germany being particularly prominent. Expressionists sought to depict pain and spiritual and physical suffering in ways that are both haunting and evocative. Starry Night shows the influence of impressionism in its deep admiration for the beauty of the landscape, while The Scream reads as an interpretation of pain in the sense of confronting overwhelming fear.

Color as Emotional Language

Color is a link that binds the two painters together. While some of Van Gogh's work — including Starry Night — is considered part of post-impressionism, both Van Gogh and Munch are broadly regarded as expressionist painters. For both artists, color was a means of expressing emotion. In The Scream, blues and greens contrast sharply with the reddish browns of the sky and dock. Starry Night, meanwhile, features a dark and haunting centerpiece set against a bright and tranquil backdrop, creating a contrast through color that echoes the effect seen in The Scream.

The Meaning Behind the Paintings

Another similarity lies in the meanings behind both paintings and how emotion is represented in each. Munch painted The Scream after witnessing a sunset while walking with friends. When the "tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord" (Ferguson 22), Munch felt the infinite and overwhelming scream of nature, giving rise to the fear that crept over him. That swirling and turbulent emotion is displayed in the bright, spinning colors and the undulating forms of both the main subject and the background. The figure, his hands, and the shape of his head all rest on a wave that flows continuously into the waves of the surrounding scenery.

The same dynamic can be seen in Starry Night, with the exception that the swirls and waves are smaller yet still highly indicative of intensity and inner emotion. They move gently but are interrupted by a large, dark cypress tree that looms ominously in the foreground, much like the dark background in The Scream. As Van Gogh himself wrote: "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily — in order to express myself forcibly." (Gardner, Kleiner, and Mamiya 735). Perhaps the cypress tree represented something troubling Van Gogh at the time, and rather than denying his feelings through the open sky, he painted a large dark shape to interrupt the serenity of the scene. The color and the swirling dynamism of the night sky in Starry Night together demonstrate the emotions that were often difficult for Van Gogh to express in other ways.

Conclusion: Shared Sorrow, Different Voices

Expressionism was a time when artists revealed their innermost workings through art. This was one of the linking elements of Van Gogh and Munch's work — both paintings are expressions of pain and struggle. Where one artist struggled to articulate that pain, the other placed it plainly on display, offering a raw and symbolic representation of fear and loneliness. While there are notable differences between Starry Night and The Scream, their similarities are undeniable. Both men suffered deeply, and from that suffering came a powerful new way of sharing their sorrow with the world.

Works Cited

Ferguson, Ron. George Mackay Brown. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2011. Print.

Gardner, Helen, Fred S. Kleiner, and Christin J. Mamiya. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2016. Print.