The Starry Night
The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh · 1889
01
Saint-Rémy. June 1889.
Van Gogh is a patient.
A mental hospital in the south of France.
02
One star burns bigger than the rest.
Low. Left of centre.
Most read it as Venus. The morning star.
03
A cypress fills the left edge.
Ground to sky in one dark flame.
04
The view is from his window. Almost.
The village below wasn't in it.
He added it.
05
Later, he judged it in a letter.
Stars too big, he said.
He called it a failure.
The whole night.
Uncropped.
“This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big.”
1941
The Museum of Modern Art wants it.
It pays in paintings, not cash.
Three works from the Lillie P. Bliss bequest.
Two Cézannes. One Toulouse-Lautrec.
It has belonged to MoMA ever since.
Vincent van Gogh
Dutch · Post-Impressionism · 1853 to 1890
Sources · 6
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