Meeting Benches World art in all forms
When the night is more alive and colorful than the day
It was “Because the Night“, written by Bruce Springsteen. I didn’t know why that song made famous by Patti Smith came to mind. But I was sure that in art the night was the space of the unknown, of mystery and dreams, a dimension in which reality dissolves, leaving room for inner reflection, solitude and even alienation. Listening to Springsteen’s words several times, I had surrendered to the evidence that darkness was not just the absence of light, but a theatrical element that intensified pathos and emotional realism. Aware that the night could be a bridge to infinity, where the night sky vibrated with energy and feeling, I had begun to explore the memory of my nights. I understood that darkness was not a limit, but a space of creative freedom. I knew that my imagination was similar and an infinite canvas on which to project emotions, symbolism and personal interpretations. However, I had not been able to explain to myself why I had chosen the canvases of those seven artists. Claude Monet and Marc Chagall, Caravaggio, Edward Hopper and Rembrandt van Rijn, James McNeill Whistler and Vincent Van Gogh, the “painters of the night”, had taught me that it was not the absence of light.
Even for me, a digital artist, the night is not just the absence of light, but a theatrical element that helps to intensify the pathos and emotional realism of the characters portrayed. After having created and reviewed my short video dedicated to those painters of the night several times, I note down in my work diary the salient characteristics of their respective styles, finally, I decide to start recreating their world. I begin with “The Night Watch“, painted in 1642 and preserved at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, one of the most famous masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn. The work depicts a company of arquebusiers captured in the moment in which they are preparing to march. The chiaroscuro enhances the faces and expressions, guiding the observer’s gaze towards the protagonists. The work is a symbol of the golden age of Dutch painting and continues to preserve its beauty. I accept the challenge, but I will not create a group portrait, but rather that of a mysterious woman who represents the charm of a night.
When I start working on the second painter of the night, I try to be concise in addressing the challenge with the work of a master of the Italian Renaissance: “Narcissus“, a painting attributed to Caravaggio, made between 1597 and 1599, now preserved in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini in Rome. I note in my work diary that the painting depicts the protagonist of the myth narrated, victim of the curse that condemns him to fall in love with himself. Even the background of my digital work, shrouded in shadow, must create a sense of isolation and introspection. In my notes, I emphasize that the painting must be structured in such a way as to reflect the figure of Narcissus in the water, almost like a playing card divided into two symmetrical parts. The light must sculpt the face and hands of the young man, emerging from the darkness with a theatrical effect.
“The Falling Rocket“, a nocturne in black and gold created by James McNeill Whistler between 1872 and 1877, preserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts, is a painting that expresses the artist’s innovative approach to painting. More than a representation of reality, for me is a fusion of light, color and melody. More than a faithful representation of reality, James McNeill Whistler‘s painting appears to me as a visual and emotional experience in which light and color blend into a pictorial melody. I continue to paint and listen to music, but it is no longer Patti Smith’s words that illuminate my imagination. I do not understand why, almost as if I had to take care of someone, I chose that song by Franco Battiato. I put my cigar in the ashtray and compare Whistler with myself: we have both managed to create a harmonious sensory expression more similar to a musical composition than to a classical figurative painting.
Before delving into the new interpretation, I savor Vincent Van Gogh’s fascination with the night and the stars, almost as if they symbolized hope and infinity for him. “The Starry Night“, painted in 1889 and now held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was created during Van Gogh’s voluntary stay at the psychiatric clinic of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, following a period of mental crisis. My own deep inner restlessness also emerges in the artistic vision. I paint a solitary woman walking under our digital “Starry Night”. The stars and the moon, surrounded by dynamic brushstrokes that evoke movement and depth, seem to pulsate with an electric energy. I am attracted by the contrast between the intense blue of the sky and the bright yellow of the celestial bodies, they underline the emotional tension that I have captured between me and the faceless woman.
The artwork I am about to create must capture Claude Monet‘s fascination with atmospheric effects and the transformation of light. In my work diary I note that, in order to recreate Monet’s world, I must translate reality into visual sensations. “Le Port du Havre“, painted by Monet in 1872, is an extraordinary representation of the port of Le Havre. The painting, now housed in the Barberini Museum, represents one of Monet’s rare ventures into night scenes. Inspired by this approach, I use rapid and blurred brushstrokes to capture the movement and vibration of light. The port itself is rendered with precision, highlighting the glow of the gas lamps and the navigation lights of the boats: details that testify to the industrial progress of the time.
Marc Chagall, a master of color and visual poetry, created “Le Paysage Bleu” in 1949, a work that perfectly embodies his dreamlike and symbolic style. Now housed in the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, this masterpiece features the artist’s head merging with that of his beloved woman. A white fish, a hen, and a bouquet of flowers enrich the composition, evoking an atmosphere suspended between dream and memory. When I deal with digital painting in the style of Chagall, I keep the dominant blue, inexplicably, I choose to give up the fusion of the heads, where memories and imagination intertwine. My “Blue Landscape” merges reality and fantasy in a way that reflects my state of mind. I hope that what I create speaks directly to the soul of the observer, that it helps him enter a world of emotions and fantasies.
In American slang, it indicates people who live at night, often immersed in their solitude. Edward Hopper‘s 1942 painting “Nighthawks“, one of the most iconic works of “American realism”, is one of the masterpieces that best represents urban solitude. Preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago, the painting depicts a diner lit up in the middle of the night, with figures immersed in silence and isolation, apparently unknown to each other. In comparing myself with Hopper, I decide to emphasize an intense artificial light that contrasts with the darkness of the deserted street. I am happy with what I will share online with you. My prize is the memory of “The Most Beautiful of the Seas” by Nazim Hikmet. In words, it tells me what the painters of the night have illustrated with their chiaroscuro: the most beautiful of nights.
Through a precise geometric composition and the use of cold tones, he manages to convey a sense of melancholy and indefinite waiting, Dastilige Nevante has discovered that night is not merely the absence of light, but a realm of mystery, dreams, and introspection—a space where reality dissolves to make way for solitude, inner reflection, and sometimes alienation. The darkness depicted by Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Caravaggio, Edward Hopper, Rembrandt van Rijn, James McNeill Whistler, and Vincent Van Gogh is more than a backdrop; it becomes a theatrical device, heightening pathos and emotional realism. In their work, light pierces the shadows with dramatic intensity, revealing moments of profound spirituality and transcendence. Inspired by these seven “painters of the night”, Nevante translates their vision into digital imagery, enhanced by the ethereal soundtrack “Beyond the Stars” by FiftySounds. His interpretation offers a passage to infinity, where night skies pulse with energy and emotion, drawing the observer into a boundless world of feeling and wonder.
