Starry Night vs Monogram: Analysis of Both Artworks

There is no doubt that each piece of art is created differently making them unique in their own way. This is because not every artist is the same. In addition, everyone uses their creativity differently. These two pieces of art, Starry Night and Monogram, are good examples of this. Each of the artist’s use different materials, techniques, and elements to create their artwork. However, they are not completely different, they do contain similarities.

The artwork, Starry Night, created by Vincent van Gogh is one of the most popular pieces today.

It is known that Van Gogh created this artwork from right outside his window one night. Van Gogh struggled with a battle within himself and even considered himself to a terrible artist. He actually created this piece when he was held in a mental institution. Van Gogh used oil paints in darker colors to reflect how he felt during that time. The clouds are painted in a spiral mixed with light blues, dark blues, and perhaps white to contrast with the dark green object in front of it.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified writer

Proficient in: Painting

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

This dark green object is essentially the focal point of this artwork.

By understanding Van Gogh’s past, it is essentially possible that Van Gogh considered himself this dark green object. In the back of the painting, you can see a town with lights. He considered himself to be the darkness in a world full of light. He gave it a deeper meaning than he originally intended. The historical style is also noticeable.

Since it was created in 1889, the art technique impressionism was widely popular. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Van Gogh incorporated this technique into his artwork.

The artwork, Monogram, created by Robert Rauschenberg is a unique type of piece. It definitely takes some analyzing to soak up all the elements of the piece. Robert Rauschenberg is an American artist who liked to make his audience think. He liked being able to have them look at it for some time to understand it and that is exactly what this piece reflects. Rauschenberg is known for using objects you would not normally think about using in art. He preferred to combine a bunch of different objects together to make one entire piece.

In the Monogram, Rauschenberg uses a goat in a tire as his focal point. The goat has some paint splashed onto its face. The colors consist of primarily of orange, yellow, and white. The goat is sitting on a square platform with a pattern of different sizes of cut-outs. Looking a bit closer, you can actually see some foot prints in black on the front of the platform. The meaning of his work is just to simply give his audience something to remember and to analyze. For example, when you look at pieces of artwork, you do not typically see a goat. This is what Rauschenberg’s purpose was, to do the unthinkable. He wanted to create pieces that nobody would have thought of creating in the first place. Rauschenberg created this piece in Sweden in 1955. During that time period, the art movement Neo-Dada was popular. This piece is a great example of Neo-Dada because it incorporates known objects with visuality.

Just by glancing at these two great pieces of art, Starry Night and Monogram, you can tell immediately they are extremely different. However, they are actually not that different. They actually share multiple similarities in many ways.

Starting off with similarities, both of the artworks have a focal point. Starry Night has a dark green grassy-like figure while Monogram has a goat through a tire. They both use variety, but in different ways. Monogram includes variety by using combination of different sizes and shapes onto one rectangular platform. This helps the statue become more expressed. On the other hand, Starry Night uses variety by the how the values and different colors of the painting express the sky. There are many more similarities between the two pair of paintings, and these are just some examples.

Along with similarities, they also have differences and these typically outweigh what they have in common. Some examples are the materials used in each artwork, the meaning behind the pieces, colors, and other elements. They differ in materials because Starry Night is created with oil paints while Monogram is created with objects and both of the artists have different motives of their artwork. The colors on Starry Night are more darker colors, whereas on the Monogram, there is not a lot of colors. There are some splashes of orange and red like previously mentioned, but nothing really colorful.

In conclusion, these two pieces of artwork were created by two talented artists. They used their talents effectively in each piece which makes them different in styles because I believe it reflects their personalities. Without these two artists and their creations, the world of art would not be the same. Each piece of art ever created plays a role and I believe that is what these two pieces did. They introduced many techniques for future generations to be inspired by and to be able to incorporate these into their own work. In addition, art is not only about how to express yourself, I believe that it plays a part of who we are today.