The Starry Night. Vincent van Gogh. 1889 C.E. Oil on canvas. The curving, swirling lines of hills, mountains, and sky, the brilliantly contrasting blues and yellows, the large, flame-like cypress trees, and the thickly layered brushstrokes of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night are ingrained in the minds of many as an expression of the artist’s turbulent state-of-mind. His favored subjects were irises, sunflowers, or wheat fields; night landscapes are rare. Van Gogh had had the subject of a blue night sky dotted with yellow stars in mind for many months before he painted The Starry Night; It presented a few technical challenges he wished to confront—namely the use of contrasting color and the complications of painting outdoors at night. He was hospitalized in an asylum; mentally ill; painted from his window, it is assumed that Van Gogh composed The Starry Night using elements of a few previously completed works still stored in his studio, as well as aspects...
