Starry Night

Starry Night is a prime example of the distinct “expressionist” style of Vincent van Gogh; the artist employed vibrant colors and bold, experimental brushwork in order to communicate certain emotions to the viewer. Loosely based on the view from his window, this painting presents a country village underneath a magnificent, glowing sky. Here, Van Gogh consciously distorted reality to express his feelings about life, death and man’s place in the universe. The heavens seem to pulsate with the energy of the spiraling and exploding stars and galaxies. Van Gogh once wrote to his brother about his belief that humanity’s final destination after death is among the stars and this scene has been interpreted as a contemplation of death. The prevalence of deep, dark blue and violent brushstrokes throughout the scene hint at the turmoil in the artist’s mind and a quiet depression. He produced this work in 1889, just a year before his own suicide, while living at an asylum to which he had