Van Gogh wrote several letters to his family and friends before painting Starry Night. To his friend Emile Bernard, Vincent Van Gogh wrote: I will not hide from you that I do not like the country, since it is there that I brought us – I am always charmed by the magic of crowds of memories of the past, of a desire for infinity, of which the sower, the sheaf are the symbols – just as much as before. But when will I paint my starry sky, this picture that continually preoccupies me? (Lauren Soth 301) He generally likes to paint visionaries, but Van Gogh relied on memories of events that happened earlier in his life. Likewise, the Church describes an important period in his life when he was preaching. Lauren Soth argues: “The Starry Night is a religious image, a sublimation of impulses which, since Van Gogh's loss of faith in the Church, have been unable to find their outlet in conventional Christian imagery” (301 ). Starry Night is a version of his past life where Vincent drifted away from the ministry and became mentally deficient. Vincent created Starry Night during his stay in a mental institution. According to Van Gogh: Starry Night, “In 1889, van Gogh entered a hospital to be treated for the mental illness he battled throughout his life; it was there that he created his most famous painting” (28). Doctors allowed him to draw during his treatment