03/16/2015

 

Long after his death, it was discovered by scientists that van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night, perfectly illustrated the complex and mysterious phenomenon of aero turbulence. The paints and pigments swirl in through changing colors to make small, moving vortexes all over the page without ever moving. They twirl the viewer through time, send them back to the age of lamp-lighted streets and distant locomotives. The smell of hot oil and fumes drifts through tiny gusts, black curls from Starry Night drag you along the rails as slick iron wheels, worn white slide you forward, careening unknowingly into the turbulent future ahead. The color changes from steely blue to emerald green and the painting takes you to the streets where the stoplight has just changed. A young bicyclist passes you and you barely stop in time, caught watching the spokes spinning outward, inward, and onward through thin air like a turbine propelling you 40,000 feet in the sky, high above Paris. The lights twinkle and sing and beg you to come closer. Take a closer look. Dive right in. They send up a tiny gust of wind, a small updraft and bring you careening into the starry night.