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Primary sourcePaintingJune 1889

The Starry Night

Vincent van Gogh · June 1889

A swirling night sky painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 while he was staying at the Saint-Rémy asylum; now his most famous work.

Painted by Van Gogh himself during his stay at the Saint-Rémy asylum, it is his own vision rendered in paint.

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Painting of a swirling night sky with bright yellow crescent moon and stars rendered as glowing spirals over blue hills. A tall dark cypress tree stands at left above a small village with a church steeple.
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

About this source

What it is

An oil painting made by Vincent van Gogh in June 1889, showing the view from his window at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, with an imagined village added below. It has been held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1941.

Why it matters

Van Gogh painted it during a year-long stay at the asylum, which he entered after a breakdown and the self-mutilation of his ear. Despite calling it a failure in letters to his brother Theo, it has become one of the most recognised images in Western art, showing his bold, swirling brushwork and his way of turning a real view into something highly personal.

Look closer

  • What parts of the sky and village look real, and what looks imagined?
  • Why might Van Gogh have exaggerated the cypress tree and the swirling shapes?
  • How might knowing about his hospital stay change how you read the painting?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vincent van Gogh on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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