APOD: Starry Night by Jean-Francois Millet (2020 Mar 13)

[Jkulin]

I saw this and wondered how beautiful it is, then realised it was painted 170 years ago in rural France, what an absolutely superb painting that just goes to show how man has destroyed the night sky.

I just found this simply amazing and apart from some very rural areas in the world I doubt that we could match the detail now!

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200313.html

Starry Night by Jean-Francois Millet
Digital Reproduction Credit: Yale University Art Gallery - Text: Letty Bonnell

Explanation: A dramatic nocturnal landscape from around 1850, this oil painting is the work of French artist Jean-Francois Millet. In the dark and atmospheric night sky are shooting stars, known too as meteors, above a landscape showing a path through the faintly lit countryside that leads toward trees and a cart in silhouette on the horizon. Millet was raised in a farming family in Normandy and is known for his paintings of rural scenes and peasant life. This Starry Night was painted after the artist moved to Barbizon, about 30 kilometers southeast of any 19th century light pollution from Paris. Millet wrote to his brother at this time, "If only you knew how beautiful the night is ... the calm and grandeur of it are so awesome that I find that I actually feel overwhelmed." Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh was an admirer of Millet's work, and later also painted two dramatic starry nights.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Jkulin
typos

[JamesF]

3 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

I saw this and wondered how beautiful it is, then realised it was painted 170 years ago in rural France, what an absolutely beautiful painting that just goes to show how man has destroyed the night sky.

A lovely painting.  It suits me to think in a somewhat optimistic way that "we" haven't really "destroyed" the night sky.  It's still there and we can have it back any time we like.  Of course persuading most people that we want it back may be rather more tricky.

James