In the later part of his life, Van Gogh committed himself to an asylum in Saint Remy de Provence. <em>The Starry Night</em> was the view from the window in Van Gogh’s sanitarium bedroom. Although it is a night scene, it was painted during the day. The painting is often referred to as Van Gogh’s magnus opus. As he often sent his works to his brother Theo for his approval, he mailed this one to him in late 1889. He also wrote that he was not so happy about the work, which did not seem complete, as he had originally intended it to simply be a study of the night sky.