The Starry Night

What you are looking at

A village sleeps under a sky that seems alive: huge spirals of wind, a glowing crescent moon and eleven blazing stars. A dark cypress rises like a flame on the left, and a church spire points up from the village below. The paint is laid on in thick, rhythmic strokes you can still see standing up from the canvas.

Why it is famous

Van Gogh painted it in June 1889 while he was a patient at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The view is based on what he saw from his east-facing window before sunrise, but he painted it in the studio and added the village from imagination. He was not especially pleased with it; he called it a failure in one letter. Today it is one of the most reproduced images in the world.

How big is The Starry Night?

The Starry Night measures 73.7 × 92.1 cm (29.0 × 36.3 in), without its frame. Its surface is about one and a half times the area of the Mona Lisa.

Compare it with other paintings

Where to see it

MoMA usually shows it in its fifth floor collection galleries, and the crowd in front of it rarely thins. Go right at opening or late on a weekday evening.

Museums move and lend paintings. Check the museum's website before you travel to see one work. See all famous paintings in New York.

More by Vincent van Gogh

The Potato EatersVincent van Gogh, 1885 AmsterdamSelf-Portrait with a Straw HatVincent van Gogh, 1887 New YorkCafé Terrace at NightVincent van Gogh, 1888 OtterloThe Night CaféVincent van Gogh, 1888 New Haven, ConnecticutThe BedroomVincent van Gogh, 1888 AmsterdamSunflowersVincent van Gogh, 1888 London

All Vincent van Gogh paintings

Also at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

The Sleeping GypsyHenri Rousseau, 1897 New YorkLes Demoiselles d'AvignonPablo Picasso, 1907 New YorkThe Persistence of MemorySalvador Dalí, 1931 New YorkChristina's WorldAndrew Wyeth, 1948 New York

Sources: Wikidata Q45585; Wikipedia, "The Starry Night". Checked October 17, 2026. How we check.