Starry Night

Van Van Gogh, due to his mental health condition, voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy, located south of France, between 1889 and 1890. From the window of his room facing east, he drew inspiration from the view to create the painting The Starry Night.

Work has been part of the permanent collection of the Modern Art Museum in New York City since 1941. This painting, regarded as Van Gogh’s masterpiece, is one of the most recognized works of West art.

Van Gogh depicted the night sky as a swirling field of energy like. Beneath the glowing stars lies a calm and orderly village. The cypress tree, rising like flames and connecting the earth to the sky, is associated with the cemetery and themes of mourning. However, for Van Gogh, the cypress was not an omen of death. He once said:

“Looking at the stars always makes me dream. I ask myself: Why should the points of light in the sky not be as accessible as the points on a map of France? Just as we take a train to travel to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star.”^【1】

Here, the author’s attitude toward death offers us information.

Van Gogh described the painting in a letter to his brother Theo: “This morning, before sunrise, I opened the window and observed the countryside. In the sky there was only the morning star, and it appeared very large.”^【2】

The star identified by the artist as the “morning star,” visible on the left side of the painting, is believed to be Venus. On the other hand, the village is entirely a product of Van Gogh’s imagination. The pointed spire of the church evokes Holland, where Van Gogh was born and raised.

^【3】

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-starry-night-vincent-van-gogh/bgEuwDxel93-Pg?hl=en

^{Venus in the Painting}

^【4】