Van Gogh—The Starry Night Poster

Vincent van Gogh painted *The Starry Night* in June 1889, while he was a patient at the Saint-Paul psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy. Although the painting was inspired by the pre-dawn sky he saw from his window, it is not a literal depiction of the landscape: the village below was not visible from the window, and the church tower resembles the landscapes of Van Gogh’s childhood in the Netherlands more than those of Provence. It is believed that one of the bright stars in the sky is actually Venus, which was visible in the morning sky at that time. Van Gogh’s blending of observation, memory, and imagination in a single scene transforms the painting from a realistic night scene into a reflection of his inner world projected onto the sky.