The Starry Night

Vincent Van Gogh

Oil on canvas

Museum of Modern Art

Painted in June 1889 during his voluntary stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, The Starry Night depicts a swirling nocturnal sky filled with luminous stars and a radiant crescent moon above a tranquil village, with a towering cypress tree anchoring the foreground. Van Gogh rendered the composition in bold, rhythmic brushstrokes of ultramarine and cobalt blue, applying paint directly from the tube to build a richly textured impasto surface characteristic of his mature Post-Impressionist style. Although inspired by the view from his east-facing asylum window, the village depicted is an imaginary addition, demonstrating the artist's growing willingness to synthesize observation with invention. Regarded as a cornerstone of Western modern art, the painting has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, since 1941, where it remains one of the most visited works in the world.