Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on canvas 


Van Gogh's 'night sky' is a field of roiling energy. 
Below the exploding stars, the village is a place of quiet order.

Connecting earth and sky is the flamelike cypress, a tree traditionally associated

with graveyards and mourning. 

But death was not ominous for van Gogh. 

"Looking at the stars always makes me dream," 

he said, 

"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." 

The artist wrote of his experience to his brother '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"

This morning star, or Venus, may be the large white star just left of center in The

Starry Night. The hamlet, on the other hand, is invented, and the church spire

evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands.

The painting, like its daytime companion, The Olive Trees, is rooted in imagination

and memory.

[출처 : The Museum of Mordern Art]