The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), a Dutch post-Impressionism painter, created a painting that has resonated with millions of people worldwide when he painted The Starry Night. Van Gogh is infamous for cutting off his own ear and his frequent bouts with mental illness and anxiety. The Starry Night is one of the most famous, replicated and sought after images in modern culture. It depicts the view from his room of the northern night sky at the sanatorium in Saint Remy, which he watched at night and painted from memory during the day. It is perhaps because he was painting from memory that he was able to imbue his tumultuous style with such feelings of both mental anguish and unwavering hope. It was painted only thirteen short months before van Gogh's death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The swirling clouds, bright crescent moon and luminescent stars keep the eyes wandering over the painting. This was not van Gogh's first painting of the night sky; he also painted the stars and lights of the town Arles in the River Rhone in his work commonly known as Starry Night over the Rhone. Van Gogh's thick, sweeping brushstrokes are instantly recognizable, and The Starry Night has been the subject of poetry, fiction and song, most notably 'Starry, Starry Night' by Don McLean. Since 1941, this masterpiece has been kept at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of their permanent collection.