(The Starry Night, June 1889 by Vincent van Gogh) Painted by DS

Van Gogh painted The Starry Night near the mental asylum of Saint-Remy, 13 months before his death.  His mental instability is legend; he attempted to take  Paul Gaugin’s life; he cut off part of his ear lobe and he later committed himself to an asylum.  The painting vibrates with rockets of burning yellow while the stars gyrate like cartwheels.  Some pundits believe the eleven stars are religiously symbolic.  In Genesis 37:9 the following statement is made:

“And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.”

The hills and small village sit below the vibrant crescent moon. The sense of movement, whirling, and continuous is enhanced and exaggerated by Van Gogh’s large, swiped brush strokes and use of color. Before he painted The Starry Night, he wrote prophetically to his brother Theo:

The moon is still shining, and the sun and the evening star, which is a good thing – and they also speak of the love of God, and make one think of the words: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”