Van Gogh Painting of the week: Starry Night

This week’s painting of the week is Starry Night. Starry Night is probably Van Gogh’s most famous painting in the world and is often hailed as his Magnum Opus.

The swirling golden stars in Vincent’s dark blue sky remind us of the Olympic medals. A sky full of golden stars, which hundreds of athletes from all over the world are reaching for at this moment. And if they win a medal, they become a star themselves.

Vincent also wanted to reach the stars, but in a quite different way. He wrote about it to his brother Theo:

"Looking at the stars always makes me dream. Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star."

Van Gogh hoped to reach the stars when he died. If he succeeded in that will remain a mystery, but we do know that he became a star himself…

Another part of this painting reminds us of this subject. If we take a closer look, we can see that between the exploding stars and the quiet village, a flame shaped like a cypress divides the painting. The cypress is traditionally associated with graveyards and mourning.

Vincent painted this work while he was hospitalized at the asylum in Saint-Remy in June 1889. Van Gogh didn’t feel well at all; he wasn’t allowed to go outside to paint, so he mostly painted from memory and from what he saw through his window. He wrote about this special view to Theo:

"This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big."

Click here to read more about Starry Night
Click here to read Van Gogh’s biography