By: JESSICA RHOADES
Staff Writer
Today’s piece is Vincent Van Gogh’s most popular piece, The Starry Night. It was made in June of 1889 in Saint-Remy-De-Provence, France. In the aftermath of the 23 December, 1888 breakdown that resulted in the self-mutilation of his left ear Van Gogh voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole lunatic asylum on 8 May 1889. Housed in a former monastery, Saint-Paul-de-Mausole catered to the wealthy and was less than half full when Van Gogh arrived, allowing him to occupy not only a second-story bedroom but also a ground-floor room for use as a painting studio. It is now held as a permanent part of their collection in The Museum of Modern art in New York. It was actually made from Van Gogh’s Asylum window view during his year-long stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum, after having a mental breakdown and cutting off his own ear. Its size is two and a half by three feet. His inspiration for the painting was the view of a valley just before sunrise and put in an imaginary village. I’ve decided to go over this piece because I’ve always been a fan of Van Gogh’s work. Fun fact; This painting was foreshadowing his own death. The cypress tree represents death and immortality because it reaches from earth to the sky, kind of like linking earth to the heavens.