Vincent van Gogh – Starry Night over the Rhône

Starry Night over the Rhône is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in Arles in September 1888: the night sky above the river, with the seven stars of the Plough over the water, the yellow gas lamps of the town reflected in long golden stripes, and a couple walking on the bank in the foreground. The original measures 72.5 x 92 cm and hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 50 x 40 to 200 x 172 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

Starry Night over the Rhône – Vincent van Gogh

What does Starry Night over the Rhône show?

The view looks across the Rhône at night, from the quay in Arles. On the far bank the town stretches along the water as a dark band, and its gas lamps burn yellow and orange. Their light falls on the river in long, broken stripes of gold that run towards you. Two small boats are moored at the near bank, and in the bottom right corner a couple walks along the shore, arm in arm.

Above them most of the canvas is sky. The seven stars of the Plough, the brightest part of the Great Bear, stand out clearly over the water, each with a small halo. Van Gogh described the colours himself in a letter to his brother Theo: an aquamarine sky, royal blue water, a mauve bank, a town in blue and purple, yellow gas light and reflections of russet gold.

How did Starry Night over the Rhône come about in Arles?

Van Gogh moved to Arles in February 1888 and in the autumn lived in the Yellow House on Place Lamartine. The spot on the bank of the Rhône where he painted this canvas was only a minute or two’s walk from his door. For months he had wanted to paint a starry night.

Earlier in September 1888 he had painted the Café Terrace at Night, his first canvas with a starry sky. Starry Night over the Rhône followed at the end of the month. On 28 September he described it in detail in a letter to Theo, and on 2 October he sent a small sketch of it in a letter to the Belgian painter Eugène Boch.

What do the stars, the gas lamps and the couple mean?

Van Gogh left no full explanation, so the meaning stays open. What the painting clearly does is set two kinds of light against each other: the old, natural light of the stars and the new, artificial light of the town’s gas lamps. The stars stay small and calm, while the gas light pours across the water.

The Plough is easy to recognise and places the scene in a real autumn sky, although the painter arranged the view as a whole rather than copying it point by point. The couple in the corner gives the night a human scale and a quiet, romantic mood, unlike the restless sky of his later night painting.

Where does the original hang, and how did it reach the Musée d’Orsay?

The original hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The canvas was first shown to the public in 1889 at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris, together with Irises; his brother Theo chose the two works.

In 1975 the painting came to the French State as a gift from Robert and Marguerite Kahn-Sriber, in memory of Fernand Moch and his wife. The donors kept it for their lifetime, and from 1995 it has been in the public collection, today at the Musée d’Orsay.

Starry Night over the Rhône or The Starry Night – which one is which?

We paint two of Van Gogh’s night skies, which are often confused. This page is Starry Night over the Rhône, painted in Arles in September 1888: a calm sky with the Plough above the river, gas light on the water and a couple on the bank, with the original in Paris. The Starry Night came a year later, in June 1889, in Saint-Rémy: the swirling sky, the cypress and the village, with the original in New York.

For a calm, romantic night by the water, choose this one; for the dramatic, moving sky, choose The Starry Night. From the same months in Arles we also paint the night scene Café Terrace at Night, his room in the Yellow House, Bedroom in Arles, and the yellow still life Sunflowers I.

In the same autumn of 1888 in Arles Van Gogh also painted The Red Vineyard, with grape pickers under a low sun, and we paint it by hand as well.

How is our hand-painted Starry Night over the Rhône made?

The painter first draws the line of the far bank, the town, the boats, the couple and the positions of the stars. Then come the deep blues of the sky and the water, and last the yellow and orange strokes of the gas light and its reflections. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand in oil on canvas with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original.

The first photograph shows the finished painting in a blue frame with a gold edge, on an easel in our workshop, as you receive it. The second, third and fourth photographs show the canvas lying on our work table with a corner of three different frames: a teal moulding with a silver-gold lip, a gold frame with a blue inner edge, and a dark blue frame with a gold edge.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 120 x 90 or 130 x 105 cm above a sofa or a double bed, 70 x 60 or 90 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or in a smaller room, and 170 x 143 or 200 x 172 cm for a large empty wall. The landscape format suits long furniture.

There are 16 sizes: 50 x 40, 55 x 45, 60 x 50, 63 x 48, 70 x 60, 80 x 70, 90 x 70, 100 x 82, 120 x 90, 125 x 97, 130 x 105, 135 x 114, 150 x 115, 170 x 143, 190 x 152 and 200 x 172 cm. The 90 x 70 cm size comes closest to the original, which is 92 cm wide and 72.5 cm high. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the furniture below it: 120 cm above a 180 cm sofa.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, and 20 to 30 cm above a sofa or a headboard.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 16 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. We recommend keeping the proportions close to the original, otherwise the river and the sky get squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.

For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows each of our frame profiles on this subject – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. A blue or gold frame suits this night sky; the second, third and fourth photographs show three options side by side.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.

More famous Van Gogh paintings are in the Vincent van Gogh gallery, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. For a gift, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose size and subject.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Starry Night over the Rhône?

The original hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris: it was given to the French State in 1975 and has been in the public collection since 1995. It is not in New York: the Museum of Modern Art in New York holds the other, later night painting, The Starry Night of 1889, which is why the two get mixed up.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Starry Night over the Rhône?

He painted it in Arles at the end of September 1888, on the bank of the Rhône, a minute or two’s walk from the Yellow House where he lived. On 28 September he described the finished canvas in a letter to his brother Theo, and a few days later he sketched it for the painter Eugène Boch.

Is Starry Night over the Rhône older than The Starry Night?

Yes, by nine months. Starry Night over the Rhône was painted in Arles in September 1888, while The Starry Night followed in June 1889 at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. So the river scene is the earlier work, and The Starry Night came later, with a far more restless, swirling sky.

Which stars are shown in Starry Night over the Rhône?

The seven bright stars above the water are the Plough, also called the Big Dipper, the most recognisable part of the Great Bear. Van Gogh painted each of them with a small halo. The constellation places the scene in a real night sky, even though he composed the view as a painting rather than an exact star map.

What do the couple and the gas lamps in Starry Night over the Rhône mean?

Van Gogh did not explain them, so any reading is an interpretation. The gas lamps show the new artificial light of a town set against the old light of the stars. The couple walking on the bank gives the night a human, romantic note and makes the scene calm rather than lonely, unlike his later night skies.

Why did Van Gogh paint Starry Night over the Rhône?

He had long wanted to paint a starry sky and wrote that looking at the stars always made him dream. In Arles he first tried it on the Café Terrace at Night, then went down to the river to paint the sky on its own. There is more on the painting’s history on Wikipedia.

How big is the original Starry Night over the Rhône?

The original measures 72.5 x 92 cm, about the same as The Starry Night, so it is a medium format that already hangs well above a chest of drawers. Our 90 x 70 cm size comes closest to it, and there are 16 sizes in all, from 50 x 40 to 200 x 172 cm, as well as custom sizes.

What colours did Van Gogh describe for Starry Night over the Rhône?

In his letter of 28 September 1888 he listed them himself: the sky aquamarine, the water royal blue, the ground mauve, the town blue and purple, the gas light yellow and its reflections russet gold. Our painter follows exactly this contrast of deep blues and warm yellow lights.

Is the original Starry Night over the Rhône for sale, and what is it worth?

No, it is not for sale. It belongs to the French national collection and hangs in the Musée d’Orsay, so it has no market price. What we can state is the price of our hand-painted version, which this page shows for the size you choose, together with the delivery time.

Does your Starry Night over the Rhône have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original, especially in the gas light reflections on the water. You see the relief best in the second, third and fourth photographs, taken at an angle. This is a real canvas painting, not a print with a flat surface.

Which frame suits Starry Night over the Rhône?

A frame that picks up the blue of the night or the gold of the lamps works best. The first photograph shows our painting in a blue frame with a gold edge, and the next three show a teal, a gold and a dark blue option on the same canvas. You can also order it unframed, ready to hang on its stretcher.

• Subject: the night sky with the Plough above the Rhône in Arles, gas light reflected in the water and a couple on the bank.
• Original: September 1888, 72.5 x 92 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 50 x 40 to 200 x 172 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.