Van Gogh’s Starry Night: The Asylum Window, the Prussian Blue from Berlin, and the Chrome Yellow That Needs 2700K

May 22, 2026

Van Gogh Starry Night skateboard triptych — DeckArts Berlin

Last updated: May 2026 · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin

Quick answer

Van Gogh’s Starry Night (June 1889, MoMA New York, 73.7×92.1 cm) was painted from his asylum window in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh called it “an exaggeration in style.” It is made from Prussian blue (invented Berlin 1704) and chrome yellow. He sold one painting in his lifetime. On a triptych (~$310) above the sofa on deep navy: chrome yellow stars glow at 2700K. From ~$310.

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) painted The Starry Night on 18 June 1889 while a voluntary patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He had committed himself five weeks earlier after cutting off part of his left ear. The painting was not the triumphant masterpiece of popular mythology; Van Gogh was ambivalent about it, calling it “an exaggeration in style” in a letter to his brother Theo. He sold one painting in his lifetime. The Starry Night is now at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it has been since 1941. DeckArts Berlin from ~$310 triptych.

The Painting: Asylum Window, June 1889

De Sterrennacht (The Starry Night, June 1889, oil on canvas, 73.7 × 92.1 cm, MoMA New York) depicts a nocturnal sky over a village in the valley below the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum. The sky is dominated by eleven swirling, radiant star bursts and a luminous crescent moon, connected by turbulent flowing lines that represent atmospheric movement — a visual rendering of the wind-currents that Van Gogh had been studying in the scientific literature on meteorology and celestial observation. The village below — stylised into a pattern of horizontal dark rooftops with a single vertical church spire — is not a literal depiction of Saint-Rémy but a composite of the village forms Van Gogh knew from his travels and from memory.

The composition’s left third is dominated by a large cypress tree, depicted in Van Gogh’s characteristic flame-like upward brushstroke pattern. In Van Gogh’s visual vocabulary, the cypress was associated with death and mourning (it is the tree traditionally planted in Mediterranean cemeteries) and with upward aspiration: its form reaches toward the sky while rooting in the earth. The cypress in the Starry Night connects the terrestrial foreground (the village) to the celestial space (the swirling sky) in a single upward movement that bridges the two zones of the composition.

The astronomical accuracy of the Starry Night has been studied extensively. In 2001, Texas State University astronomer Donald Olson published a study confirming that the painting’s star positions correspond approximately to the actual night sky visible from Van Gogh’s asylum window in the pre-dawn hours of June 19, 1889. The specific positions of Venus (the brightest object in the composition, slightly left of the crescent moon) and the stars of the constellation Aries correspond to their documented positions on that date. The swirling atmospheric movement is not astronomical but meteorological: Van Gogh was depicting the atmosphere’s Kolmogorov turbulence cascade — the pattern of energy transfer from large atmospheric scales to small scales in turbulent fluid flow. A 2006 study in Physics of Fluids confirmed that the luminance fluctuations in the Starry Night’s sky follow Kolmogorov’s scaling law for turbulence with extraordinary accuracy.

Prussian Blue: From Berlin 1704 to Saint-Rémy 1889

The dominant colour of the Starry Night’s swirling sky is Prussian blue (ferric ferrocyanide, Fe₄[Fe(CN)₆]₃, peak absorption ~700 nm, peak reflectance ~495–500 nm) — the same pigment that forms the dominant colour of Hokusai’s Great Wave (c.1831) and Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom (February 1890). Prussian blue was invented in Berlin in 1704 by the paint-maker Johann Jacob Diesbach, who created it accidentally while attempting to make red lake pigment using iron sulphate contaminated with potassium ferrocyanide. The resulting deep blue pigment was the first synthetic inorganic pigment in Western history.

DeckArts ships classical art from Berlin — the city where the pigment in the Starry Night’s sky was invented in 1704. The material connection between Berlin and the Starry Night’s dominant colour is not merely cultural but chemical: the specific ferric ferrocyanide compound that Van Gogh mixed into his sky in Saint-Rémy in June 1889 was the product of a specific accidental chemical discovery in Berlin 185 years earlier. The UV archival inks used to reproduce the Prussian blue of the Starry Night on Canadian maple are the 21st-century descendants of Diesbach’s 1704 accident.

By the time the Prussian blue pigment reached Japan (via the Dutch East India Company trade routes, approximately 1820), Hokusai and the Japanese woodblock print tradition had adopted it as the primary blue pigment (replacing the traditional indigo-based blues). The Great Wave’s Prussian blue (c.1831) and the Starry Night’s Prussian blue (1889) share the same chemical compound — a material bridge between two of DeckArts’ most canonical works.

Chrome Yellow: Why 2700K Is Mandatory

The eleven radiant star bursts of the Starry Night are painted in chrome yellow (lead chromate, PbCrO₄, peak reflectance approximately 570–580 nm in the warm orange-yellow range) — the same pigment Van Gogh used for his Sunflowers series, his Bedroom in Arles, and numerous other works from his Arles and Saint-Rémy periods. Chrome yellow was one of Van Gogh’s most frequently used pigments and one of the most chemically unstable: it darkens significantly over time through photochemical reduction to lead chromite (PbCrO₄ → Pb₂O(CrO₄) → Pb₂CrO₅, progressively darker compounds). The chrome yellow in the original Starry Night at MoMA has darkened significantly from its original state; restoration scientists believe the original stars were considerably brighter and more saturated than they appear today.

The optical significance for LED temperature: chrome yellow’s peak reflectance (570–580 nm) falls in the warm orange-yellow portion of the visible spectrum. Under warm LED at 2700K, which has a higher proportion of long-wavelength (warm) radiation, chrome yellow reflects efficiently and appears bright, warm, and optically active. Under cool LED at 4000K+, which has relatively more short-wavelength (cool) radiation, chrome yellow absorbs proportionally more of the incident light and reflects less of the warm component, reading as a flatter, slightly cooler, less luminous yellow. The specific visual property of Van Gogh’s chrome yellow stars — the impression that they are self-luminous, radiating outward in halos — is only visible under warm light. Under cool LED, they are yellow circles.

Van Gogh’s Biography: 900 Paintings, One Sale, 902 Letters

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Zundert, North Brabant, Netherlands, the son of a Dutch Reformed minister. He died on 29 July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, at age 37, two days after shooting himself in the chest in a wheat field (or, according to the alternative hypothesis proposed by biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in 2011, after being accidentally shot by a local teenager). He painted approximately 900 works in 10 years of sustained creative production (1880–1890). He sold one painting in his lifetime: The Red Vineyard (1888), sold in February 1890 in Brussels for 400 Belgian francs to Anna Boch, a Belgian Impressionist painter whose brother Eugène was a friend of Van Gogh.

Van Gogh wrote 902 surviving letters, the majority to his brother Theo, who was an art dealer in Paris and Van Gogh’s primary financial and emotional supporter throughout his painting career. The letters are among the most significant documents in the history of Western art: they include detailed accounts of Van Gogh’s working process, his colour theory, his psychological states, his relationships with other artists (Gauguin, Bernard, Signac), and his reading (he read extensively in French literature, English literature, Japanese art literature, and scientific texts). The complete letters are available online through the Van Gogh Letters project at the Van Gogh Museum.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam — founded by Vincent’s nephew Vincent Willem van Gogh (the same baby for whom Van Gogh painted Almond Blossom in February 1890) — holds the largest collection of Van Gogh works in the world. The museum’s collection page for the Starry Night (this is the museum’s own version; the MoMA version is the primary) covers the work’s history and scholarship.

“An Exaggeration in Style”: What Van Gogh Said About It

Van Gogh wrote about the Starry Night in Letter W12 (to his sister Wil, c.September 1889): “The latest thing I’ve done — two large canvases — is of a starry sky and a moonlit olive grove — I don’t know myself if I’ll send them, as it’s an exaggeration in style — like all the studies I’ve done of the south.” He also wrote to Theo (Letter 805, c.June 19, 1889): “This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big” — a description consistent with the bright object (Venus) visible in the Starry Night’s composition.

The “exaggeration in style” phrase is the most significant of Van Gogh’s few comments on the painting: he was aware that the work’s treatment of the sky was not naturalistic but expressive — that the swirling turbulent lines were his personal visual response to the sky’s energy rather than an accurate depiction of the sky’s appearance. His ambivalence about this is consistent with his broader artistic position: he valued direct observation and naturalistic painting (from his early Dutch period) but was increasingly drawn toward expressive colour and line that departed from strict observation. The Starry Night is the most extreme example of this expressive departure in his work.

MoMA New York: How the Starry Night Got to America

The Starry Night’s provenance from Van Gogh’s asylum to MoMA’s permanent collection follows a specific route: Van Gogh gave the painting to his brother Theo in 1889; Theo died in January 1891, six months after Vincent; Theo’s widow Johanna van Gogh-Bonger inherited the collection of approximately 400 Van Gogh works and spent the following decades promoting Van Gogh’s posthumous reputation and selling or gifting works to museums. The Starry Night was sold by Johanna in 1900 to the art dealer Julien Tanguy; it passed through several subsequent owners before being acquired by MoMA in 1941 as a gift from Lillie P. Bliss, one of MoMA’s founding patrons.

The MoMA has held the Starry Night since 1941 — the most visited single work in the museum and one of the most globally recognised paintings in any medium. The MoMA’s collection page for the Starry Night includes high-resolution photography and scholarly commentary.

Starry Night on a Skateboard Triptych: Navy Above the Sofa

The Starry Night triptych (~$310, ~70 cm wide) is the most visually specific navy-wall living room installation at DeckArts. The three decks present three vertical crops of the composition: the left deck (the cypress and the left village section), the centre deck (the primary swirling sky vortex and the church spire), and the right deck (the right sky and horizon). Each deck is visually complete as a standalone composition; together they present the full panoramic sweep of the Starry Night’s composition in the three-deck triptych format.

On deep navy (#1B2A4A) under 2700K warm LED: the Prussian blue of the swirling sky merges with the navy wall in the same cool blue register, making the sky appear to extend beyond the deck’s edges into the wall itself. The chrome yellow stars advance from the continuous cool dark (deck + wall) at maximum warm luminosity. The specific visual effect: the stars appear to float from the wall itself, not merely from the print surface. This specific visual property — the Prussian blue of the Starry Night continuous with the Prussian-blue-adjacent navy wall — is not available with any other wall colour or any other DeckArts work.

Room-by-Room Installation Guide

Living room above sofa, deep navy wall (primary recommendation): Triptych (~$310, ~70 cm) above sofa on deep navy. Art centre 155–165 cm from floor. Gap 15–20 cm above sofa back. Directed warm LED 2700K ceiling track spot, 90–120 cm from wall. The chrome yellow stars glow from the continuous navy field at maximum warm luminosity. The most visually specific Starry Night installation at DeckArts. See: Skateboard Wall Art for a Living Room.

Bedroom above bed, deep navy (nocturnal): Triptych (~$310) above the bed on deep navy. The nocturnal sky above the nocturnal space. Centre 165–170 cm from floor or 15–20 cm above headboard. Warm LED 2700K bedside lamps + ceiling track spot. The Prussian blue sky continuous with the navy wall creates the most immersive nocturnal bedroom ambient at DeckArts. See: Skateboard Wall Art for a Bedroom.

Single deck on warm white (Japandi or Scandinavian): Single deck (~$140) on warm white wall. The Prussian blue provides the Japandi one-cool-accent-on-warm-white formula. Less dramatically beautiful than the navy installation but more versatile for warm-neutral rooms. See: Skateboard Wall Art for Japandi Interiors.

Dark academia study, forest green: Single deck (~$140) on forest green above the desk. The nocturnal sky as the intellectual work ambient — Van Gogh’s “exaggeration in style” above the desk where exaggeration is the creative programme. See: Skateboard Wall Art for Dark Academia.

Van Gogh Starry Night — Triptych (~$310)

Deep navy wall · chrome yellow stars at 2700K · Prussian blue from Berlin 1704 · UV archival 100+ years · Canadian maple · ships Berlin

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FAQ

Where did Van Gogh paint the Starry Night?

Van Gogh painted the Starry Night in June 1889 (completed approximately June 18–19) while a voluntary patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, southern France. He had committed himself five weeks earlier after cutting off part of his left ear following an argument with Gauguin. He painted from his room’s window view and from memory/imagination — the village in the painting is a composite, not a literal depiction of Saint-Rémy. DeckArts triptych from ~$310.

Where is the Starry Night now?

The Starry Night (June 1889, 73.7×92.1 cm) is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it has been since 1941 (gift of Lillie P. Bliss). It is displayed in MoMA’s permanent collection galleries and is the museum’s most visited single work. moma.org/collection/works/79802. DeckArts produces a UV archival triptych on Canadian maple from ~$310.

What wall colour is best for Van Gogh Starry Night?

Deep navy (#1B2A4A) is the most visually specific choice: the Prussian blue of the Starry Night’s sky merges with the navy wall, making the sky appear to extend beyond the deck edges. The chrome yellow stars glow from the continuous navy field at maximum luminosity under 2700K warm LED. Alternative: warm white (single deck, Japandi one-cool-accent formula); forest green (dark academia, Prussian blue from organic dark). 2700K mandatory throughout — chrome yellow flattens under cool LED. DeckArts triptych from ~$310.

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Article Summary

Van Gogh Starry Night: June 1889, oil on canvas, 73.7×92.1 cm, MoMA New York (since 1941, gift Lillie P. Bliss). Painted from asylum window at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, Saint-Rémy, after voluntary commitment (December 1888 ear incident). Astronomical accuracy: Donald Olson 2001 confirmed star positions correspond to pre-dawn June 19 1889; Venus = brightest object. Turbulence: 2006 Physics of Fluids confirmed luminance fluctuations follow Kolmogorov turbulence scaling law. Prussian blue: Berlin 1704, Johann Jacob Diesbach accidental discovery, first synthetic inorganic pigment; reached Japan via Dutch trade c.1820 (Great Wave c.1831 same compound). Chrome yellow (PbCrO₄): peak reflectance 570–580 nm warm orange-yellow; self-luminous glow under 2700K warm LED; flattens under 4000K cool; original stars brighter than current darkened state. Van Gogh biography: born 1853 Zundert, died 1890 Auvers-sur-Oise aged 37; 900 paintings in 10 years; one sale (Red Vineyard 1888, 400 Belgian francs); 902 letters to Theo; Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam founded by nephew Vincent Willem (baby of Almond Blossom). “Exaggeration in style”: Letter W12 to sister Wil c.September 1889; Letter 805 to Theo describes morning star (Venus) before sunrise. MoMA provenance: Van Gogh → Theo → Johanna van Gogh-Bonger → Tanguy 1900 → several owners → Bliss gift → MoMA 1941. On deck triptych: three crops (cypress+left village; central sky vortex+church spire; right sky+horizon); navy wall = Prussian blue continuous with sky (stars float from wall); 2700K mandatory. Installation: navy living room triptych (primary); navy bedroom (nocturnal immersion); warm white single (Japandi); forest green single (dark academia). DeckArts from ~$310. Canadian maple. UV archival 100+ years. Berlin. 30-day return.