Snow globe Vincent van Gogh - Starry Night, 1888

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Starry Night (details), 1888
Oil on canvas. H. 73,0; W. 92,0 cm. Paris, musée d'Orsay
© Photo GrandPalaisRmn (musée d'Orsay) / A. Didierjean

From the moment of his arrival in Arles, on 8 February 1888, Van Gogh was constantly preoccupied with the representation of "night...

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Starry Night (details), 1888
Oil on canvas. H. 73,0; W. 92,0 cm. Paris, musée d'Orsay
© Photo GrandPalaisRmn (musée d'Orsay) / A. Didierjean

From the moment of his arrival in Arles, on 8 February 1888, Van Gogh was constantly preoccupied with the representation of "night effects". In April 1888, he wrote to his brother Theo: "I need a starry night with cypresses or maybe above a field of ripe wheat." In June, he confided to the painter Emile Bernard: "But when shall I ever paint the Starry Sky, this painting that keeps haunting me" and, in September, in a letter to his sister, he evoked the same subject: "Often it seems to me night is even more richly coloured than day". During the same month of September, he finally realised his obsessive project.

© GrandPalaisRmnCréations, Paris 2025