Post-Impressionism

The Starry Night (van Gogh)

Vincent van Gogh, 1889

The Starry Night is a painting by Vincent van Gogh, made in June 1889 at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence: a swirling night sky over a village and a flame-like cypress. It is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1889
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 73.7 × 92.1 cm
Collection: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, United States
Movement: Post-Impressionism

What you are looking at

A night sky takes up most of the canvas, and it is anything but still. Eleven stars blaze inside rings of yellow and white, a crescent moon burns orange in the upper right, and through the middle a great double spiral of blue and pale yellow rolls across the sky like a wave. Below, a small village sleeps under blue hills, its windows lit, with a slender church spire rising above the roofs. In the left foreground a dark cypress tree climbs the full height of the picture, its outline flickering like a flame.

The painting is oil on canvas, 73.7 by 92.1 centimeters. Van Gogh made it in June 1889, and it has belonged to the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1941, acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. The image shown here is a cropped detail of the full canvas.

How it was made

In May 1889 Van Gogh voluntarily entered the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole at Saint-Rémy, in Provence, after the crises that followed his breakdown in Arles. From his bedroom window he looked east over a walled wheat field toward the hills. In a letter to his brother Theo he described watching the countryside before sunrise with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big. The bright star just right of the cypress is usually identified with that morning star, the planet Venus.

He could not paint in his bedroom, so the picture was made by day in a studio room, from memory and imagination as much as observation. The village is largely invented, and its pointed steeple looks more Dutch than Provençal. The cypress, too, is brought far closer than any tree outside his window.

Looking closely

Every part of the canvas is built from short, directional strokes of thick paint laid side by side, so the brushwork itself creates movement. In the sky the strokes curl; in the hills they ripple; in the cypress they lick upward. Look at the village: its houses are drawn with firm dark outlines and small, calm strokes, a pocket of order under the turbulent sky.

What does The Starry Night mean?

Van Gogh left no full explanation. Cypresses were associated with cemeteries and mourning in the Mediterranean, and he had written of the stars as a destination, wondering whether we might reach them through death as we reach a town by train. Many readers therefore see the tree as a link between earth and heaven. Others stress the painting's sheer energy as an expression of his emotional state at Saint-Rémy. Both readings go beyond what the letters prove.

Where to see it

The Starry Night hangs at MoMA in New York and is one of the most visited paintings in the world. Compare Van Gogh's earlier night scenes, The Night Café and Café Terrace at Night, and see more in famous Van Gogh paintings.

Questions & answers

Where is The Starry Night by Van Gogh?

The Starry Night is in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The museum acquired it in 1941 through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, and it is normally on view in the fifth-floor galleries of the permanent collection.

When and where did Van Gogh paint The Starry Night?

He painted it in June 1889 at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he had admitted himself the month before. It was based on the view east from his window, but painted by day in a studio room and partly from memory.

Is the village in The Starry Night real?

Only partly. Van Gogh's window looked over a wheat field toward the hills, and the village of Saint-Rémy was not in that view as painted. He invented or rearranged it, and the tall church spire resembles those of his native Netherlands more than the churches of Provence.

More by the artist

Vincent van Gogh

All works →

Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette

Vincent van Gogh · 1886

A café terrace glows yellow under a lit awning on a cobbled street at night, beneath a deep blue sky scattered with stars — Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888 — Café Terrace at Night
Vincent van Gogh · September 1888

Five peasants with coarse faces share a dish of potatoes and pour coffee at a small table under a hanging oil lamp in a dark cottage — Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885 — The Potato Eaters
Vincent van Gogh · April–May 1885

Black crows fly low over a wind-tossed golden wheat field under a dark, stormy blue sky, with three paths cutting through the wheat — Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, July 1890 — Wheatfield with Crows
Vincent van Gogh · July 1890

A huge bouquet of blue-violet irises with long green leaves bursts from an ochre vase against a bright yellow wall, stems spilling onto the table — Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890 — Irises (Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background)
Vincent van Gogh · 1890

An old man in a blue suit sits hunched on a wooden chair by a small fire, fists pressed to his eyes — Vincent van Gogh, At Eternity's Gate, 1890 — At Eternity's Gate
Vincent van Gogh · 1890

A red-bearded man in a grey felt hat, lilac jacket outlined in cobalt and a pale blue bow tie looks out against a vivid blue background — Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (or Portrait of Theo van Gogh), 1887 — Portrait of Theo van Gogh (Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat)
Vincent van Gogh · 1887

A handwritten letter in French beside a pen sketch of a tall flame-like cypress tree and a crescent moon — Vincent van Gogh, letter to Theo with a sketch of cypresses, June 1889 — The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh · 1872–1890

Also painted in 1889

The same year

A red-bearded man in a pale blue jacket gazes sideways against a background of swirling blue and turquoise brushstrokes — Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889 — Self-Portrait (1889, Musée d'Orsay)
Vincent van Gogh · 1889

Kindred works

You may also study

An empty billiard table stands in a café with red walls, a green ceiling and glowing gas lamps, a few customers slumped at tables — Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888 — The Night Café
Vincent van Gogh · 1888

A dark mass of trees and a white fence overlook a curving shore and still blue water under a night sky with a few stars — Edvard Munch, Starry Night, 1893 — Starry Night (Munch)
Edvard Munch · 1893

A pale green wooden footbridge arches across a pond crowded with white and pink water lilies, framed by dense green foliage — Claude Monet, Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899 — Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies
Claude Monet · 1899

Nude nymphs link hands and dance in a ring around a blazing bonfire in a dark wood while Pan crouches at the left playing a pipe — Joseph Tomanek, Nymphs Dancing to Pan's Flute — Nymphs Dancing to Pan's Flute
Joseph Tomanek

A skull-faced figure clutches its face on a railed road beneath a swirling blood-red sky over a dark blue fjord — Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893 — The Scream
Edvard Munch · 1893

A pale young woman in a silver dress floats on her back in a green stream, palms up and lips parted, as flowers drift from her hand — John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851–52 — Ophelia
John Everett Millais · 1851–52

A woman in a white dress holds a green parasol on a grassy rise against a blue, cloud-streaked sky while a small boy stands behind the hill — Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875 — Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son
Claude Monet · 1875

A towering blue wave with claw-like foam curls over three long rowing boats, with snowcapped Mount Fuji small in the distance — Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830–32 — The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32