Auvers-sur-Oise · June 16, 1890 · a twilight found
White House at night : a star, a facade and a late rediscovery
A clear villa closes almost the entire horizon. An orange window burns in the facade, a few silhouettes cross the road and a single star dominates the blue sky. Van Gogh transforms an ordinary evening in Auvers into an enigma of painting, astronomy and history.
The short answer
What exactly does the table show?
White House at night represents a villa in Auvers-sur-Oise seen at dusk. The facade stretches horizontally between dark vegetation and a clear road. Three small figures give scale, but the real confrontation pits the house against the immense blue field of the sky.
The "star" is most likely Venus. By comparing the orientation of the house, the position of the planet, the weather data and the letter sent by Vincent to Theo on June 17, a team led by Donald Olson proposed the June 16, 1890, around 8 p.m.
The work is also famous for its destiny. Passed through the collection of the German industrialist Otto Krebs, it disappeared from public view after the Second World War before being unveiled at the Hermitage in 1995, in the exhibition of "hidden treasures" from German collections.
"A white house in the greenery, with a star in the night sky and an orange light in the window.Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, June 17, 1890 - French translation from the scientific edition of the letters.
Before interpreting
Look at the entire canvas
The painting does not show a dark night. It captures a moment of transition: the sky keeps a cold light, while the house still receives clear values and a window already announces the nocturnal interior.
Read Image
Seven forces that vibrate this evening from Auvers
A facade as a screen
The house is almost frontal. Its width interrupts the depth and transforms the architecture into a large, clear surface where each window becomes a sign.
A sky in motion
Curved, parallel keys circulate air around Venus. Blue is not a neutral background: it has its own rhythm.
A tiny orange light
The warm window concentrates human presence. Its small size is enough to contrast interior intimacy with the cold expanse of the evening.
A calculated asymmetry
Venus shines on the right while the dark tree weighs on the left. Between the two, the long facade maintains balance.
Contours that build
Blue, green and brown lines don't just copy the edges. They thicken the roof, shutters and property boundaries.
Three almost anonymous figures
A passerby walks along the road and two people stand near the entrance. They give a daily measure to a scene that has become cosmic.
Twilight, not night
The visibility of the facade and the color of the sky indicate the post-sunset. It is this in-between that makes the image unstable and precise.
Approach the material
Four details to examine
These enlargements come from the same image. They do not replace the entire work: they isolate the points where Van Gogh transforms a very concrete observation into pictorial tension.
Venus
A pale core surrounded by circular keys. The star is small but regulates the reading of the entire sky.
The facade
It is never uniformly white: cream, green, pink and blue maintain the evening light.
The orange window
A few warm touches are enough to make a living room feel cold behind the walls.
The road and the figures
The pink strip serves as a threshold between the spectator, passers-by and the enclosed property.
The color before the symbol
Six zones that organize the web
The power of the image is based less on a simple opposition between blue and orange than on an intermediate value chain. The house borrows colors from the sky and the garden.
Night blue
Mineral blue
Muffled green
Cold cream
Incandescent orange
Dark pink
The cropping brings the star closer to the edge of the roof in order to make visible the astronomical index used to propose the date of June 16, 1890.
The Astronomical Investigation
How a "star" dated the painting
Van Gogh did not write the day on the web. The date of June 16 results from a body of clues, reconstructed a century later by Donald Olson, Russell Doescher and their collaborators.
The team returns to the villa at 25/27, rue du Général-de-Gaulle, approximately two blocks from the Ravoux inn, then determines the orientation of the facade.
On June 17, Vincent described to Theo a study with a white house, night sky, star and orange window. The session must therefore precede or accompany this sending.
Venus is then the brightest object in this part of the evening sky. Its position relative to the roof corresponds to the observed orientation.
The weather records lead researchers to remember June 16 as a clear evening in the short available time window.
The publication and resumptions of the investigation place the scene around 8 p.m. This clarification should be understood as a reconstruction, not as an autograph date.
A European story
From the Auvers workshop to the Hermitage reserves
The term "rediscovery" does not mean that the object was materially lost. It had disappeared from public view and scholarly circulation, then was revealed in a still sensitive context of transfers of works after 1945.
The painting
Van Gogh carried out the study and described it to Theo on June 17, in the heart of an extremely dense work campaign.
Exhibitions and sales
The painting is shown in Switzerland then goes on the market before entering a large private German collection.
The Secret Collection
The industrialist brings together modern French works in his field near Weimar, away from museums.
A contested status
After the war, works from German collections were transferred to the Soviet Union. Their restitution remains a historical and legal subject.
The return to the public
The Hermitage presents the canvas among the "hidden treasures". A work that many believed lost becomes visible again.
Auvers photographed
From the painted motif to the real village
The villa identified by the researchers is located at 25/27, rue du Général-de-Gaulle. The photographs below document the architectural environment of Auvers; they are not presented as exact views of the painted house.
The Ravoux Inn
Van Gogh was staying in this inn, located a few minutes walk from the identified villa. The photograph recreates the scale of the town he visited daily.
Author unknown, public domain. Source file.
Rue Daubigny
Light walls, sloping roofs, vegetation and narrow roads show how architecture still fits into the relief of Auvers.
Photo: Clicsouris, CC BY-SA 3.0. File and license.
The Oise and the length of the site
The panorama reminds us that the village develops parallel to the river and the axis of circulation. Van Gogh's motifs are scattered throughout this geography rather than grouped together in a single setting.
Photo: Clicsouris, CC BY-SA 3.0. File and license.
Compare to see better
Three nights, three ways to light up the sky
White House at night takes up Van Gogh's fascination with the stars, but renounces multiple constellations. A single point of light is now enough to organize the scene.
Starry Night on the Rhône
Urban lights and stars extend into the water. The nocturnal is constructed by vertical reflections.
See reproduction →
Starry Night
Swirls, moon and stars invade the sky. The village becomes a silent base under cosmic movement.
See reproduction →White House at night
The sky is getting simpler. Venus, a window and the facade are enough to hold together the cosmic and everyday life.
See reproduction →Around the same campaign
Three very different Auvers
Within weeks, Van Gogh treated the house as an isolated facade, the monument as a colorful organism, and the village as a tangle of roofs. This diversity prevents Auvers from being reduced to a single dark mood.
The Auvers Church
The purple stone and the bifurcated path make the monument almost unstable under a cobalt sky.
See reproduction →
Wheat field with house
The light facade becomes a landmark in the middle of the strips of vegetation, rather than a front screen.
See reproduction →
Cottages in Auvers
The houses blend into the trees. The modern motif of the villa gives way to the old roofs that Vincent liked to observe.
See reproduction →Facts, hypotheses, stories
What can really be said
The astronomical precision and destiny of the collection encourage spectacular formulas. A solid reading distinguishes the primary source, scientific reconstruction and symbolic interpretations.
| Question | Level | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Did Van Gogh describe the work? | Established | Yes. Letter 889 of June 17, 1890 mentions the white house, the greenery, the star, the orange window and a dark pink note. |
| Is the star a star? | No, probably | Astronomical research identifies it with Venus, visible as the "evening star" after sunset. |
| Is the table exactly from June 16? | Strong reconstruction | Date results from location orientation, letter, sky and weather. It is not written on the canvas. |
| Does the house still exist? | Yes, transformed | The identified villa is located at 25/27, rue du Général-de-Gaulle. Changes to the roof and openings are documented. |
| Is this Doctor Gachet's house? | No | The villa identified on the main road is not Doctor Gachet's house, located elsewhere in the village. |
| Was the painting lost? | Lost sight | It had disappeared from public circulation, but was in Soviet reserves after the transfer of the Krebs collection. |
| Was it rediscovered in 1995? | In the public sense | Yes. The Hermitage exhibition then makes it visible and widely known again. |
| Does the red window prove anxiety? | Interpretation | It produces obvious chromatic tension, but no Van Gogh document attributes a unique psychological meaning to it. |
Twilight in an interior
White House at night in the store
The horizontal format is suitable above a sofa, console or bed. The facade gives a stable structure to the whole, while the blue sky and the orange window prevent the composition from appearing cold.
To respect the canvas, favor a framing that preserves the road, the figures and the space around Venus. Too tight a crop would transform the work into a simple architectural view and would precisely eliminate the dialogue between the dwelling and the sky.
Continue in the store
Essential collections
Five entry points consistent with the work: the artist, his Auvers campaign, the landscapes, the night scenes and the post-impressionist movement.
Read next
Extending Van Gogh to Auvers and night painting
These articles complete the analysis with addresses, letters, collections, landscapes of Auvers and the great nocturnes.
Van Gogh's houses
From Zundert to the Ravoux inn, the real places of a life on the move.
AuversFarms near Auvers
Roofs, panoramic format and heavy sky in another late painting.
SourcesLetters to Theo
What they really reveal about the method and the tables.
NocturneStarry Night on the Rhône
A night in Arles built by blue, gold and reflections.
VisitingThe grave of Vincent and Theo
History, access and landmarks to explore Auvers with respect.
HouseThe Yellow House
In Arles, another facade becomes the portrait of a life and workshop project.
CatalogHow many works?
Paintings, drawings, prints and systems Faille and Hulsker.
MuseumVan Gogh Arles Foundation
A place dedicated to the painter's legacy and his modern dialogues.
Frequently asked questions
Understand everything about White House at night
Who painted White House at night ?
Vincent van Gogh painted this oil on canvas in Auvers-sur-Oise in June 1890, approximately six weeks before his death.
When was the painting painted?
The work is generally dated June 16, 1890, around 8 p.m. This clarification comes from an astronomical reconstruction based on Venus, the orientation of the house, the weather and the letter of June 17.
Is the star really a star?
No. Researchers identify it with Venus, then very bright in the evening sky.
Where is the house depicted?
The identified villa is located at 25/27, rue du Général-de-Gaulle in Auvers-sur-Oise, a short distance from the Ravoux inn.
Does the house still exist?
Yes, but it has been transformed since 1890. Skylights have been added and certain openings have changed.
What are the dimensions of the table?
The work measures 59 cm high by 72.5 cm wide.
Where is the original kept?
It belongs to the collections of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. As indoor presence may change, you should check directly with the museum before a visit.
Why do we say that the painting has been rediscovered?
After entering the Otto Krebs collection and transferring to the Soviet Union after 1945, it remained invisible to the public for approximately fifty years. The Hermitage presented it again in 1995.
What are its catalog numbers?
The painting bears the number F 766 in the catalog of Jacob-Baart de la Faille and JH 2031 in that of Jan Hulsker.
Does Van Gogh speak of this painting in his letters?
Yes. On June 17, 1890, he described to Theo a white house in the greenery, a star in the night sky, an orange window and a dark pink note.
Is there a reproduction in the store?
Yes. The sheet The White House at night - Vincent van Gogh presents the hand painted reproduction.
Verifiable sources
Letters, catalog, astronomy and provenance
The analysis distinguishes documented data from interpretations. Van Gogh's letter is the primary source; the precise date comes from a later investigation.
Letter 889
Autograph description of the white house, star, orange window and dark pink note.
Image and dataWikimedia Commons
Reproduction of the public domain, dimensions, place of creation, Krebs provenance and references F 766 /JH 2031.
Scientific methodTexas State University
Presentation of Donald Olson's method and reminder of his astronomical dating of Van Gogh's paintings.
Scientific catalogWork note
The letter edition identifies the study as F 766 /JH 2031 and links it directly to the June 17 text.
Recent historyThe Art Newspaper
The questions surrounding the work on the eve of its public presentation by the Hermitage.
Notice of workCollection and inventory
Location at the Hermitage, dimensions, origin Otto Krebs and available files of the work.
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