The Starry Night in Details The Starry Night is a painting by Vincent van Gogh, created in June 1889 while he was staying at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It was inspired by the view from his east-facing bedroom window, although the village shown in the painting is imaginary. The sky features Venus, while the moon is not astronomically accurate, and the cypress trees in the foreground are exaggerated in scale. During his stay at the asylum, Van Gogh was highly produ