It was painted on the bank of the Rhône that was only a one or two-minute walk from the Yellow House on the Place Lamartine, which van Gogh was renting at the time.

Van Gogh announced and described this composition in a letter to his brother Theo: Included a small sketch of a 30 square canvas - in short the starry sky painted by night, actually under a gas jet.

On the aquamarine field of the sky the Great Bear is a sparkling green and pink, whose discreet paleness contrasts with the brutal gold of the gas.

The vantage point he chose for Starry Night allowed him to capture the reflections of the gas lighting in Arles across the glimmering blue water of the Rhône.

In September 1888, when Vincent van Gogh painted this picture on the banks of the Rhône, he saw the city of Arles looking south-west.

By the time he painted The Starry Night in 1889, his technique has evolved, the brightness of the stars being symbolized by concentric dotted circles.