The Starry Night: A Comprehensive Introduction to Vincent Van Gogh's Most Famous Painting

Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (1889) - a post-impressionist painting depicting a swirling night sky, crescent moon, stars, and an imaginary townscape beneath.
The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1889)

This is The Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh's most famous painting. 

In popular culture, it reflects Van Gogh's mental illness.

However, this artwork reveals more than Van Gogh's psychology. It also delves upon religion, cosmology, and hope.

Let us unravel the sublimity of this night scene.

This is an introduction to Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night.

The Starry Night's Inspiration

Vincent Van Gogh painted The Starry Night in 1889 while staying in Saint-Paul de Mausole Asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France. 

Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait with bandaged ear, painted in 1889 after his infamous ear injury in Arles.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)

He admitted himself to an asylum following his famous ear mutilation incident in the city of Arles where he lived with fellow painter, Paul Gauguin.

In Saint-Paul de Mausole Asylum, he was given a studio where he worked on many series including nocturnes. 

He often observed the sky from his room window, describing one instance to his brother, Theo:

“This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." -Letter to Theo (June 2, 1889)

A few weeks later, Vincent painted The Starry Night. 

Vincent considered the painting a failure and refused to send it to his art dealer brother. 

Portrait of Theo van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh, 1887 – Depicts Vincent's younger brother, a key figure in his life and career.
Portrait of Theo Van Gogh by Vincent Van Gogh (1887)

He describes The Starry Night to Theo: 

"All in all the only things I consider a little good in it are the Wheatfield, the Mountain, the Orchard, the Olive trees with the blue hills and the Portrait and the Entrance to the quarry, and the rest says nothing to me." -Letter to Theo (September 20, 1889)

Even Theo also considered the painting inauthentic and described it as a contrived artwork. 

Elements of The Starry Night

There are three main elements in The Starry Night: The sky, the hills, and the town.

Details of the sky in The Starry Night showing a crescent moon, ten stars, Venus, the faint light of dawn, and a Mistral.
Details of The Starry Night.

The sky is composed of a (1) crescent moon, (2) ten stars, (3) Venus, (4) the faint light of dawn, and (5) the swirling wind called mistral which is the painting's focal point.

Details of the hills in the The Starry Night depicting the Alpilles mountain range in South France.
Details of The Starry Night.

The hills depict the Alpilles, a French mountain range, viewed from Van Gogh's window.

Details of the town in The Starry Night showing lit houses, a church. olive trees, and cypress trees.
Details of The Starry Night.

Lastly, the town is composed of (1) lit houses, (2) a church, (3) olive trees, and (4) cypresses in the foreground. 

This scene is not the exact view from Van Gogh's window.

Astronomers agree that Venus and the Ursa Major constellation were visible when Van Gogh made the painting on June 19, 1889, but proved that the moon back then was a waning gibbous, not a waning crescent.

A photograph showing the moon's waning gibbous phase.
The Moon's waning gibbous phase.

The town is also imaginary.

This leaves the olive trees, the cypresses, and the hills as the only accurate elements in The Starry Night.

Van Gogh's Technique in The Starry Night 

During their time in Arles, Vincent often argued with Paul Gaugin on painting scenes from observation or imagination. Van Gogh initially painted according to nature but shifted to an expressive style. 

Vincent van Gogh's The Potato Eaters (1885) - a famous early work depicting a peasant family sharing a meal in a dimly lit room, showcasing van Gogh's early style and focus on realism and the harshness of rural life.
An example of Van Gogh's early style: The Potato Eaters (1885)

Van Gogh also stayed in Paris from 1886 to 1888 where he became acquainted with impressionists and neo-impressionists like Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, and George Seurat, adopting their Impasto technique and use of bright colors. 

Vincent van Gogh self-portrait with a straw hat, painted in 1887 showcasing the post-impressionist artist's iconic brushwork and use of color.
Self-portrait with a straw hat (1887)

Whereas impressionists depict images according to impressions of light, Van Gogh was among the first artists to express emotional effects in paintings, an inclination that would be known as Post-impressionism.

Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (1889) - a post-impressionist painting depicting a swirling night sky, crescent moon, stars, and an imaginary townscape beneath.
Ibid.

In The Starry Night, this is expressed through imaginative swirls, contortions, and bold use of colors.

The Starry Night is also not painted en plein eir (outside), a custom on impressionist landscapes at the time. Van Gogh painted it within his studio aided by both observation and imagination. 

Meanings behind The Starry Night

Religion: Van Gogh as preacher

Van Gogh was raised under the Catholic faith and before committing to art, he worked as a preacher. 

Vincent van Gogh's Still Life with a Bible (1885) - A symbolic painting featuring a large Bible, a worn-out candle, and Les Misérables, representing van Gogh's religious upbringing and intellectual shift.
Still life with Bible by Vincent Van Gogh (1885)

This upbringing influenced his works including The Starry Night. He confides in a letter to Theo:
"When I have a terrible need of-shall I say the word-religion. Then I go out and paint the stars." -Letter to Theo (September 29, 1888)

The Starry Night's main religious element is the church with its towering steeple.

Details of The Starry Night showing the equally towering church steeple and cypresses in the foreground.
Details of The Starry Night.

It is complemented by the equally piercing cypresses in the foreground.

In Europe, cypresses are associated with death because they often grow in cemeteries. In The Starry Night, they reflect Van Gogh's thoughts on the afterlife, considering the night sky as an ideal heaven. 

The Starry Night contrasts the earthly (the town) and the heavenly (the night sky) through the cypresses and the steeple that seem to reach for the heavens. 

Cosmology: a whirlpool galaxy in The Starry Night

Van Gogh's fascination with stars extends beyond religion. He was also an observer of the cosmos.

Sketch of the Whirlpool Galaxy by Lord Roose from 1845, considered an inspiration for Vincent van Gogh's swirling sky in The Starry Night.
Sketch of M51 Galaxy by Lord Roose (1845)

This whirlpool galaxy sketch by Lord Roose in 1845 is considered the inspiration for The Starry Night's whirl. 

Details of the Starry Night showing the mistral's swirl as inspired by Lord Roose whirlpool galaxy sketch.
Details of The Starry Night.

While there are accounts claiming that it was inspired by Hokusai's The Great Wave-a possibility because Van Gogh was fond of Japanese art-his fascination for the stars is apparent: 
"Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all." -Letter to Theo (August 11, 1888)

The whirl is also associated with the concept of Turbulence, a chaotic motion of matter characterized by changes in flow or velocity as seen in water whirlpools and winds. 

Hope: Van Gogh's The Starry Night and mental illness

The Starry Night evokes nostalgia and hope for Van Gogh. It is a reflection of his psychology.

The imaginary town he created is inspired by his home in The Netherlands. 

Details in The Starry Night showing the complementary lights of the house below and the stars above.
Details of The Starry Night.

The lit houses represent hospitality, a refuge from his mental illness. Their faint light complements the star lights above that equally represents hope amidst shrouding darkness.

The Starry Night is a glimpse of beauty, a longing for hope, a glimmer of psychological consolation that would unfortunately evanesce a year later after Van Gogh's suicide.

The Starry Night's influence

After Vincent Van Gogh died on July 29, 1890, The Starry Night had various owners until it was acquired in 1941 by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. 

Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry night attracting crowd at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night attracting crowd at MoMA.

It is the museum's top attraction, estimated to be priced at 100 million dollars.

In terms of artistic influence, The Starry Night is the most famous modern landscape painting that inspired 20th-century movements like Fauvism, Expressionism, and Abstract expressionism.

It is a masterful blend of religion, cosmology, and hope; an amalgamation of of Vincent Van Gogh's emotional depth and technical brilliance. 

It is a paragon of the Post-impressionist art movement. 

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