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When Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night in 1889, he wasn’t simply capturing a view outside his window—he was painting his soul on canvas.

Confined to an asylum in Saint-Rémy after a mental health crisis, Van Gogh spent his days battling loneliness and inner turmoil. Yet when night fell, he looked upward. The stars, the moon, the vastness of the heavens—they became more than a scene to observe. They were a reminder of infinity, hope, and peace beyond the chaos of life.

Starry Night is more than art. It is Van Gogh’s eternal reminder: even in our darkest nights, there is always light waiting to be found.

Van Gogh used thick, swirling brushstrokes- a technique called impasto.

Impasto is a painting technique where the artist applies paint very thickly, so that it stands out from the canvas in visible layers or ridges. Instead of blending smoothly, the brushstrokes or palette knife marks are left raised, giving the surface a textured, almost three-dimensional look.

Van Gogh used impasto in Starry Night to make the sky swirl with movement-the thick strokes catch light and shadow, making the stars and moon seem to glow with energy. Its a way of painting that lets viewers not only see the art but almost feel the emotion behind it.

What makes Van Gogh Post Impressionist?

Impressionist, like Monet, painted light and color quickly, capturing what they saw in the moment.

Van Gogh took it further-he used color and brushstrokes to express feelings, not just appearances. That personal, emotional style is what makes him Post-Impressionist.

The Moon:

The moon sits in the top-right corner of the canvas, glowing a bright golden yellow, standing out against the deep blue sky. Van Gogh painted it with a thick halo of light, using swirling brushstrokes that make it feel as if it’s vibrating with energy.

The moon often symbolized guidance, cycles, and time. Its a reminder that even in darkness, light remains.
Some art historians believe Van Gogh saw the moon as a symbol of hope during a very difficult time in his life.
Its warm yellow contrasts with the cool blues of the night- almost like a candle in the dark, suggesting comfort.
In Van Gogh’s letter to his brother Theo, he often wrote about the night sky and stars as a way to imagine peace after death. The moon could represent that eternal rest he longed for.
The shape is actually more like a sun than a crescent moon- it’s round and glowing, not thin or sharp.
Some scholars suggest Van Gogh may have been painting from memory and blended sunlight and moonlight into one symbol of light. Other think he may have exaggerated it on purpose to make it more emotional and dramatic rather than realistic.
The moon in Starry Night isn’t about astronomy- its about emotion, contrast, and hope in darkness.

The Hills:

The rolling dark blue and green hills in the background are based on the landscape Van Gogh could see from his asylum window in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
They are wavy and rounded, not sharply defined-almost blending into the sky. Unlike the villagae below-with straight neat lines. The hills are fluid and organic, echoing the swirling sky.
Symbolically, the hills act as bridge between earth and sky- they are part of the natural world, but their curves lead your eye upward into the heavens.

The Sky:

The sky is the true focus of the painting- it takes up three-fourths of the canvas. Van Gogh painted it with bold, swirling brushstrokes, giving the sense that the sky is alive and moving.
Instead of calm starlight, we see waves of energy: whirls, spirals, and flowing patterns.
The stars and moon radiate with halos of light, making the whole sky glow.

What does the sky mean?

Van Gogh once wrote to his brother Theo: “Looking at the stars always makes me dream.”

The sky in Starry Night reflects his inner emotions-both turmoil-the restless swirls and longing for peace-the glowing stars.
Blurring the line between reality and imagination: the sky is real, but Van Gogh painted it the way it felt to him. Not the way it really looked.

Venus:

Venus is located just to the right of the cypress tree. It is the brightest “star” in the sky, glowing larger and more radiant than the others.

At the time Van Gogh painted Starry Night in June of 1889, Venus was indeed visible in the early morning sky. So this detail is one of the few that is actually astronomically accurate!

Why does Venus matter?

Venus is often called the “morning star” or “evening star” because it is the first to appear at night and the last to fade at dawn.

Many cultures see Venus as a symbol of hope, love, or guidance.
In Van Gogh’s painting, Venus shines with the same glowing yellow-white as the moon, making the sky feel alive with light in the darkness.

Van Gogh struggled with loneliness and despair, but he often wrote about the stars as a way of reaching for something beyond himself. Venus, being so bright, may have represented a beacon of hope-something constant, steady, and beautiful even when everything else felt chaotic. It connects with the idea that Van Gogh wasn’t just painting what he saw, but what he felt the night sky meant to him.

In Starry Night, Venus isn’t just a star-it’s the anchor of the sky, symbolizing light, hope, and beauty in the middle of darkness.

Stars in the Sky:

Van Gogh painted 11 stars scattered across the sky, each star a glowing orb of yellow and white, surrounded by rings of light.

He used thick, circular brushstrokes (called impasto) that make the stars seem to pulse and move, almost like they are alive.

The stars don’t just shine, they radiate energy, with light rippling outwards in spirals.

This was Van Gogh’s way of showing not only how the stars looked, but how they felt to him: powerful, luminous, full of mystery. The stars are painted as if they could reach down and touch the earth.

The stars create contrast: bright against the dark, deep blues of the night. Pulling the viewers eyes upward, making the sky feel larger and more important than the village below. The swirling halos around them tie the entire canvas together with rhythm and movement.

Symbolism of the Stars:

Van Gogh believed stars represented hope, eternity, and the possibility of peace.

In letters written by Van Gogh, he often compared dying to “taking a train to the stars.”
The glowing, oversized stars remind us of the grandeur of the universe compared to the smallness of human life.
He found comfort in the night sky, even during his hardest struggles, the stars can symbolize Van Gogh’s search for meaning.

The stars in Starry Night aren’t background decoration- they’re the soul of the painting. They shine with longing, wonder, and a reminder that even in darkness, there is always light above.

Cypress Tree:

The tall, dark form on the left side of the painting, it’s deep greens and blacks stand out sharply against the glowing blues and yellows of the sky. Painted with thick, upward stroke, almost flame-like.

In European art, cypress trees often symbolize death or eternity-they were planted in graveyards.
Here, the cypress reaches up from the earth into the sky, acting as a bridge between the earthly world and the heavens.
Some art historians see it as Van Gogh’s way of expressing his own longing for peace after death.

The cypress anchors the left side of the painting, giving balance to the swirling sky. Its vertical shape contrast with the mostly horizontal and circular motions elsewhere, creating tension and drama.

The Village

A small, peaceful town tucked into the hills at the bottom of the painting. Mostly cool blues and grays, with straight, simple lines-very different from the sky’s wild brushwork. The church steeple rises up, echoing the cypress in shape, but much smaller and more delicate.

The village is calm, quiet, and grounded, unlike the turbulent sky above.
It may represent everyday human life, steady and unchanging even while the heavens swirl with energy.
The church steeple could symbolize faith and tradition, a man-made attempt to reach toward the divine.

The village gives the painting a sense of perspective and scale-reminding us this vast cosmic scene is happening above ordinary human life. Its calmness makes the sky seem even more alive by contrast.

In the end, Starry Night is more than paint and brushstrokes—it is Van Gogh’s reminder that beauty can rise even out of struggle. The restless sky, the glowing stars, the quiet village below—they all whisper the same truth: even in our darkest nights, there is always light above us. Perhaps that’s why this painting continues to move us today. It doesn’t just show us the night—it shows us the hope that shines through it.

The Starry Night