The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night while in the Saint-Rémy asylum in 1889. Vincent's room in the Saint-Rémy asylum looked out on the eastern sky. He painted The Starry Night as a panoramic vista spreading out into an almost infinite distance under a tumultuous sky ablaze with stars. 

Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (oil on canvas, 29x36-1/4 inches) hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The writhing branches of the cypress in the foreground are carved, like the stars, in thick impasto, and the tree vibrates with the rhythms of nature's divinity. The orange-yellow crescent moon makes a stark contrast to the vivid blue firmament, recalling Vincent van Gogh's belief that arbitrary color allowed him to express himself "more forcefully."

Eventually van Gogh was allowed to leave the confines of the asylum to paint the surrounding areas. Next, we'll look at one of those paintings. HowStuffWorks