In the village the lights are on in many of the houses, or are those bright windows merely reflecting the starry splendor from above? In conclusion, Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" received a great deal of exposure when Don McLean sang the song in 1970. Many listeners likely did not know at first the song was about Vincent Van Gogh, but a careful review of the lyrics clearly indicates that the song was an ode to the great expressionist. The painting will endure long after the song though. It will endure as long as humankind is still on the planet. And the planet is better for the fact that artists like Van Gogh were here to capture its many forms, shapes, and expressions.

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Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. New York: Random

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McLean, Don. "Vincent (Starry Night)" Don McLean Online. Retrieved February 25,

2012, from http://www.don-mclean.com/vincent.asp.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense." The Continental Aesthetics

Reader. Ed. Clive Cazeaux. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Schwabe, Randolph. "Expressionism by Randolph Schwabe." The Burlington Magazine. 187.33.

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Van Gogh Gallery. "Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night: A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night

Paintings." Retrieved February 25, 2012, from http://www.vangoghgallery.com.