"The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh Quiz

Answer: Saint-Rémy

Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, the Netherlands in 1853. During his life van Gogh lived in Brussels, Etten, Drenthe, The Hague, Nuenen, Antwerp, Paris, Arles and Saint-Rémy.

Answer: 1889

Vincent van Gogh completed "The Starry Night" about a year before his death in 1890. He began this masterpiece while at the mental hospital Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy.

Answer: Theo van Gogh

Theo van Gogh was Vincent van Gogh's younger brother, and, outside of Paul Gauguin, probably the person he was closest to. Theo worked as an art dealer in Paris and helped increase the popularity of artists like Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.

Answer: 73 x 92 cm

The average size for a painting is about 25 x 34 cm so "The Starry Night" has an area about eight times that of the average painting. By comparison, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is 77 x 53 cm, occupying an area about 60% as large as "The Starry Night".

Answer: Crescent moon

The large orange-yellow crescent moon is located in the top-right corner of the painting. A large circular glow surrounds the moon.

Answer: 11

The eleven stars vary in size with the largest one being located in the foreground. There are approximately four rows of stars: five in the top row, two on the second, one on the third and three on the bottom row. The eleven stars in the painting may be a reference to Genesis 37:9 which reads as follows: "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."

Answer: A cypress tree

The large cypress tree looks almost like a large greenish-brown flame. The cypress tree dwarfs the church steeple located further back in the painting.

Answer: The night sky is pitch black.

The night sky in "The Starry Night" is anything but pitch black. There are wisps of blue and white, large, orange celestial bodies, and illuminated houses and hills.

Answer: The Museum of Modern Art in New York City

Other well known works in the Museum of Modern Art include "Campbell's Soup Cans" by Andy Warhol and "The Dance" by Henri Matisse. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam contains the largest collection of Van Gogh's works including "Sunflowers", "Bedroom in Arles" and "The Potato Eaters".

Answer: Starry Night Over the Rhone

"Starry Night Over the Rhone" has the same dimensions as "The Starry Night" and it shares a similar color scheme in part of the painting. Vincent van Gogh painted "Starry Night Over the Rhone" while living in Arles. The Ursa Major constellation and two lovers walking down by the river are visible in the painting.