Starry Night (By Alex Ruiz)

Now, isn't this a brilliant image? This image was created by Alex Ruiz, a digital artists who creates his masterpieces in Photoshop. This picture is particularly special because it's a remake of the famous "Starry Night" painting by Van Gogh - a painting Neil deGrasse Tyson argues is one of the most influential paintings of all time.

You REALLY need to look at the original Van Gogh painting and Alex's painting side-by-side (the load time for the image is a bit long, so we included van Gogh's image at the bottom of this post). The resemblance is fantastic.

Alex painted this from the same location as Van Gogh (though, maybe a slightly different vantage point. As Alex said, the original image is thought to have been painted from inside the sanitarium, but Alex didn't want bars on his image). This painting is a homage to Van Gogh which Alex says is one of his favorites. Von Gogh is the figure in the painting, "looking up at the night sky...probably in awe, as he wondered how he would capture the beauty he saw."

Alex was aiming for a painting that would be magical and inspiring while keeping a realistic feel to it. In my opinion, he couldn't have done a better job.

You can purchase a copy of Alex's painting here.