The Artist Who Saw What We're About to Show You
Between 1888 and 1889, Vincent Van Gogh painted the French night sky with a passion that bordered on obsession. Two of his greatest masterworks were born from that same sky — the same France, the same stars — that you will watch live from Triple PPP Ranch.
Painted from the window of his room at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, this is Van Gogh's most iconic vision of the night sky. The swirling clouds, the crescent moon, the blazing stars — all rendered with a ferocity that only someone who truly saw the sky could achieve. He wrote to his brother Theo: "I have a terrible need for — shall I say the word — religion. Then I go out and paint the stars."
Painted in Arles one year before The Starry Night, Van Gogh set up his easel on the banks of the Rhône River at night and captured the gas-lit reflections dancing on the water beneath a canopy of stars. He described it as "a study of the night" and considered it among his finest works. The same France. The same sky. A different river.
Both paintings are public domain works by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). The Starry Night (1889) is held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York — source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888) is held by the Musée d'Orsay, Paris — source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain). No reproduction rights are claimed.