3 Artistic Masterpieces with Storied Histories
The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Van Gogh painted the oil-on-canvas The Starry Night during his stay at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, an asylum in France. Some critics have interpreted the night sky as an expression of van Gogh’s inner turmoil and cosmic wonder.
Others have seen it as a blending of reality and imagination, combining elements with the view from his window and memories and fantasies. The painting is one of the most recognizable in Western art and widely seen as van Gogh’s magnum opus.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) wrote that The Starry Night is “both an exercise in observation and a clear departure from it.” The painting is of a night sky but van Gogh created it in several sessions during daytime, under different atmospheric conditions.
The village seen at the bottom of the painting could not be seen from his window, so was based on other views, and the cypress tree is brought closer to the foreground than reality.
Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio (c. 1603)
In the realm of Jewish art, available at Israeli Center of Judaica, Bartolomeo Caravaggio’s dramatic depiction of the Binding of Isaac is one of art history’s most powerful interpretations of this pivotal biblical narrative.
Some writers and observers argue that Abraham never intended to sacrifice his son and that this was not God’s wish. Caravaggio’s two paintings, Sacrifice of Isaac, also oil-on-canvas, feature a heavy use of chiaroscuro (strong contrasts between light and dark), heightening the emotional intensity of the scene.
In the first painting, Isaac’s expression is one more of submission, while in the second painting, it is one of terror. In both paintings, Abraham is looking at an angel to his right.
While Caravaggio was not Jewish himself, the paintings are two of the most significant artistic interpretations of biblical stories, demonstrating how sacred narratives can be transformed into powerful visual experiences.
The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893)
The Scream is one of the most iconic and striking images in art history, still to this day. Edvard Munch created four versions, with a pastel-on-board creation the only one in a private collection (the others are in museums in Norway).
According to Daily Art Magazine, Munch wrote in his diary, “One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turned blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.”
The painting has often been reimagined in pop culture; it has even inspired an emoji. Last year, designer Spacemanship created a LEGO version that Yanko Design called “more unsettling than the original.” In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer dreamed about playing foosball with The Scream figure after winning a match against Michelangelo’s David sculpture.
