Stars Shivering and Whirling:

Pablo Neruda and Vincent van Gogh

Pablo Neruda has often been compared with Picasso for his ever changing style of writing. Here however we wish to bring out the similarity of expressions in some of the works of Vincent van Gogh and Neruda - one created with the colours and the other with the words [1].

One of the most famous painting of van Gogh is the "Starry Night"[2]. The powerful emotional impact of this work has been appreciated by many. Unlike most of his works, van Gogh painted this while he was away from outdoors - in the mental asylum at Saint-Remy. Don McLean writes in his song "Vincent" [3]
"......now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered from your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen
They did not know how...."
Now, if we consider Pablo Neruda's works, the stars,
the swirling night sky appear in many of his poems
perhaps carrying the same expression. In particular, in "La Puesa", he says [4]:
"....and I wrote the first faint line
faint, without substance, pure nonsense
pure wishdome
of someone who knows nothing
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating planations
shadow perforated
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe...."

STARRY NIGHT


STARRY NIGHT OVER THE RHONE
The first thing that comes to mind after reading this poem is that of "Starry Night" by Vincent. Is this the utopian world of imagination where they both find their homes? Infact, van Gogh once said "Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star." What is this "death"?

In the poem " Puedo escribir los versos mass tristes esta noche", Neruda says[5]:
"Tonight I can write the sadest verses
Write for example, `The night is shattered
And the blue stars shiver in the distance.'
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings
Tonight I can write the sadest verses...."
Is this a reflection of the similarity of their minds when they are set free?

Vincent's interest in painting stars and night sky is clear from many of his other works such as "Starry night over the Rhone",  "Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum" and so on[6]. At the same time, we see expressions of night sky and the stars appearing in various ways in various poems of Neruda particularly in "Cien sonetos de amor" (besides what we have already mentioned).

Are not the tunes of shivering and whirling bind the stars Neruda and van Gogh together? Wondering!


NOTES
[1] This was first pointed out to me in a discussion forum on the net by a person who did not mention his/her name.
[2] "Starry Night" and some comments on this painting can be found at http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/p_0612.htm
[3] Julio Iglesias (yes, father of Enrique Iglesias!) sang this song in an album called "Starry Night". Come and collect it from me if you are interested in listening. It is beautiful.
[4] This appeared in Neruda's book "Isla Negra, a notebook". Translated from Spanish by Aiastair Reid.
[5] The translation is by W.S. Merwin. I have changed in some places to suit my taste.
[6] http://www.vangoghgallery.com is one of the places where one finds these paintings.

Sudipta Mukherji
Institute of Physics