The Starry Night

"The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh

Location: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

After van Gogh's mental breakdown on December 23, 1888 that resulted in the self-mutilation of his left ear, van Gogh voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole lunatic asylum on May 8. 1889. This was a former monastery called Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and catered to the wealthy and was less than half full when Van Gogh arrived. This allowed him to not only occupy a second-story bedroom, but they also gave him use of a ground-floor room which Vincent used as a painting studio.

During his year stay at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, van Gogh's prolific output of paintings that had begun in Arles continued here in this former monastery. During this period, he produced some of the best-known works of his career, including the Irises from May 1889, the blue self-portrait Sep 1889, and arguably his most famous piece The Starry Night was painted in mid-June 1889, because in a letter to his brother Theo on Jun 18, he wrote to tell him that he had a new study of a "starry sky".

The Starry Night was most likely painted during the day in Van Gogh's ground-floor studio at the insane asylum, because the hospital staff did not allow him to paint in his room. Many believe it was unlikely that van Gogh painted it from memory. The view has been identified as the one from his east facing bedroom window. "Through the iron-barred window," he wrote to his brother, Theo in a letter dated May 23, 1889, "I can see an enclosed square of wheat ... above which, in the morning, I watch the sun rise in all its glory." It's theorized that he Vincent first made an ink or charcoal sketch on paper in his 2nd floor bedroom and then finished the piece in his art studio located on the ground floor.

The Starry Night is the only night view painting from Vincent's bedroom window. In early June, Vincent wrote 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". Researchers have determined that Venus (sometimes referred to as the "morning star") was indeed visible at dawn in the spring of 1889, and was at that time nearly as bright as possible. So the brightest "star" in the painting, just to the viewer's right of the cypress tree, unbeknownst to the artist, was most likely the planet Venus.

All our prints are shipped in high quality aluminum frames. Our EFX watermark will not be printed on the final artwork. All of our products are printed on archival quality UV light resistant polyester.

Color Changing Fine Art Print
Painter: Vincent van Gogh
Composition by: EFX Gallery
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Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night