Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) uses a very low eye level as a compositional device to display one of the most dramatic skies in the history of painting.

In ancient Greece the followers of Pythagoras believed in 'The Music of the Spheres'. They thought that each planet in our solar system emitted a sound as it orbited the sun and that together they harmonised to create a heavenly tone.

In Van Gogh's picture, the 'music of the spheres' is not so harmonic. It reaches a ferocious crescendo that resonates through the hills, trees and village. This is a painting that depicts colossal power of nature as it overwhelms the scale of man.

If you live in the city today, light pollution from commercial and domestic lighting makes it is difficult to appreciate the power and beauty of the night sky. On a good night you can only make out a few of the major stars.

However in the pitch black night of the countryside, you can literally see countless thousands of sparkling constellations. The awesome wonder of this vision leaves you with a profound sense of humility as you cannot help but appreciate your own smallness.

Van Gogh's imagination confronts the frightening power of this infinite domain and he expresses his amazement in the exaggerated rhythms and colours of his brushstrokes.

Although 'Starry Night' is not a 'realistic' image, there is no more powerful nor honest depiction of the sky at night.

The low eye level divides this painting into two symbolic areas:

The Heavenly Sky - the large area above the eye level which creates the space that is needed to display the convulsive power of a starlit heaven.

The Humble Town - the small area below the eye level which compresses the town into a humble section at the bottom of the picture.

Van Gogh sees this as the natural order where man is diminished when confronted by the greater forces of nature and creation.

He continues this comparison by echoing the shape of cypress tree with the church spire. These symbols, one a creation of nature - one a creation of man - stand out as they are the only vertical elements in the picture. Both symbols point to the heavens: the natural tree - strong, confident and in harmony with the elements; the man-made spire - weak, artificial and straining to reach the stars.

On a technical level he uses the difference in size between the tree and spire to create the illusion of spatial depth, a visual element that is otherwise sacrificed to the strength of texture and pattern in the painting.