One of the most renowned paintings of Western art, Vincent van Gogh’s (1853-1890) Starry Night (1889) continues to inspire and enchant viewers, though the artist himself originally thought of it as a failure. The painting depicts the view from van Gogh’s bedroom window at the Saint-Rémy psychiatric institution. The country village landscape shifts between stylistic forms, alternating between the natural and unnatural, or reality and dream. The stylized swirls of the heavily stroked paint of the sky create a violently expressionistic scene inspired by van Gogh’s personal feelings at the time of creation.

Learn more about the work that inspired this pin HERE.