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A star-filled sky above a river, with yellow lights along the far bank, reflections in the water and two figures near the foreground boats.
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône. Reproduction via Wikimedia Commons and Google Art Project. Whole view.

Starry Night over the Rhône

Vincent van Gogh

1888 · Oil on canvas · Musée d’Orsay [1]

Look from the town lights to their reflections, then towards the two figures in the foreground. The painting and Van Gogh’s letters offer different ways into this night scene.

Artist
Vincent van Gogh [1]
Date
1888 [1]
Medium
Oil on canvas [1]
Canvas
73 cm high × 92 cm wide [1]
Collection
Musée d’Orsay [1]
Accession
RF 1975 19 [1]

Check the museum’s current record for visiting information. Displayed images do not represent physical size.

On this page

What did Van Gogh say about painting it?

In a letter to Theo dated on or about 29 September 1888, Van Gogh described painting the starry sky outdoors at night beneath a gas-lamp. [2]

His description moves between the sky, water, town lights and their reflections. He gives the gaslight a yellow colour and describes its reflections through red-gold and green-bronze terms. He also names the Great Bear and the foreground pair. [2]

Follow one reflection from the distant bank into the water. Then look back towards the sky. Compare how the reproduced painting separates these two areas of light.

Complete Rhône painting, showing the sky, town, river and foreground pair.
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône. Whole view. [1]
Vertical light-coloured reflections across dark water, with a boat and the near bank.
Detail of the reflections and boat. Return to the whole view to locate the town lights.
Two full-length foreground figures surrounded by blue-toned and yellow-toned shore marks.
Detail of the foreground pair. Return to the whole painting to locate them beside the river.

Which Starry Night is this?

The Orsay canvas is dated 1888. [1] MoMA’s The Starry Night is a separate painting dated June 1889, associated with Saint-Rémy. [3]

MoMA’s account describes a painting that combines observation with other views: the village could not be seen from Van Gogh’s window, and the cypress appears closer than it was. It also says the painting was made in daytime sessions. [3] These details concern the MoMA canvas. Keep them separate from the outdoor night-painting account in the Rhône letter. [2]

Reading the night

Later in the Theo letter, Van Gogh describes a need for religion and connects going outside at night with painting the stars. [2]

In Van Gogh: The Life, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith read the Rhône painting’s stars in relation to his search for consolation. [4] Return to the whole picture and consider how the town lights and their reflections occupy different spaces from the stars.

Two letters, two sketches

The scholarly edition identifies the sketch enclosed with the Theo letter as F1515/JH1593, after the Rhône painting. Its note gives the sketch’s dimensions as unknown. [2]

A separate letter to Eugène Boch is dated 2 October 1888. The editors identify its enclosed Rhône sketch as JH1594 and describe it as after the painting. [6]

The Van Gogh Museum’s record identifies this Boch sketch as pen and ink on paper, 9.5 × 13.5 cm, made in Arles on 2 October 1888, object b0598bV1962r. [7]

These records concern two drawings. Keep each letter’s recipient, date and sketch identifier together when following the source links.

Night colour in an earlier letter

In an earlier letter to Willemien, dated 9 and about 14 September 1888, Van Gogh argued that a starry sky called for varied colours, beyond white spots on a dark background. Later in that letter, after discussing his café exterior, he described enjoying direct painting at night and the difficulty of distinguishing hues in darkness. [5]

That passage provides earlier context. It is not an account of colour mistakes during the Rhône painting’s particular session. Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith’s reference notes distinguish the gas-lamp account in the Theo letter from these earlier night-painting passages. [4]

Common questions

  • Were the letter sketches made before the painting?

    The scholarly editors identify both as drawings made after the painting. [2][6]

  • Can the letters identify the paint pigments?

    Van Gogh describes colours and contrasts in his account of painting the night scene. [2] His letter does not provide a technical pigment analysis.

  • Is every sketch titled Starry Night the same drawing?

    The letters to Theo and Eugène Boch contain separate sketches. [2][6] The Van Gogh Museum records the Boch drawing under b0598bV1962r. [7]

  • Is this the same painting as MoMA’s The Starry Night?

    No. Musée d’Orsay dates this canvas to 1888. MoMA’s The Starry Night was painted at Saint-Rémy in June 1889. [1][3]

This painting is available as a print. View the print →

Sources

Numbered sources support factual claims. Looking prompts describe author observations.

  1. [1] museum Musée d’Orsay, Musée d’Orsay, La Nuit étoilée. Collection record for La Nuit étoilée, RF 1975 19. Used for: canvas identity and dimensions.
  2. [2] museum Vincent van Gogh Letters, Van Gogh Museum and Huygens ING, Letter 691 to Theo van Gogh, 1888. Letter 691 to Theo van Gogh, with the scholarly editors’ notes on the enclosed sketch. Used for: artist account and editors’ sketch identification.
  3. [3] museum Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art, The Starry Night, Saint Rémy, June 1889. Collection record and commentary for The Starry Night, Saint-Rémy, June 1889. Used for: later canvas identity and attributed commentary.
  4. [4] book Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Random House, New York, Van Gogh: The Life, 2011. Ebook edition, eISBN 978-1-58836-047-2, chapter 33 and the related online reference notes. Used for: attributed interpretation and letter context.
  5. [5] museum Vincent van Gogh Letters, Van Gogh Museum and Huygens ING, Letter 678 to Willemien van Gogh, 1888. Letter 678 to Willemien van Gogh, including the discussion of colour in night painting. Used for: earlier night-colour context.
  6. [6] museum Vincent van Gogh Letters, Van Gogh Museum and Huygens ING, Letter 693 to Eugène Boch, 1888. Letter 693 to Eugène Boch, with the scholarly editors’ identification of its sketch. Used for: second correspondence and sketch identity.
  7. [7] museum Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Sketch of Starry Night Over the Rhône, enclosed in a letter to Eugène Boch (recto), 1888. Collection record for the sketch enclosed in the letter to Eugène Boch, b0598bV1962r. Used for: Boch sketch identity, medium and dimensions.

Sources checked 6 October 2026. Select a numbered reference to see its source.

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