A colour tattoo of Van Gogh's The Starry Night inside a circle, placed in the centre of a person's upper back.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Starry Night circle tattoo on upper back

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A circular tattoo shows a reproduction of Van Gogh's The Starry Night, with a swirling blue sky, yellow stars and moon, a dark cypress tree on the left and a small village with a church spire below. The brushwork-like linework and shading give the painted texture a soft, layered look against the pale skin. The circle is centred on the back, framed by a black top with an open back.

Back Night sky Star Swirl Circle

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Sit nearer, the lamp will last until I'm done, and then you can walk home in the dark like your grandfather did, counting the gates. Now. The garden behind Vosse's Lodging ran down to the lane, and at the bottom of it stood a cypress so black and tall that the hens refused to roost under it. Hendry Vosse, the tinsmith's brother, rented the room above the wash-house that summer. He was a quiet man with paint under his nails from the signboards he did for the inn, and he could not sleep.

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Every night he sat at the sill with a cup of cold tea and watched the sky over Marrowby. It was not the sky the rest of us saw. Where we saw dark, he saw the wind stirring it like a churn, the blue going round in ropes, and the stars fat and yellow as butter, each one with a ring of its own. The church spire stood up out of the roofs like a finger raised for silence, and the cypress in the garden leaned into the swirl as though it wanted to be taken up with it.

Old Mrs Dunning swore he had painted the whole thing on the back of the wash-house door. When she went to look the next morning there were stars on it, wet and bright, and a blue that smelt of linseed. Hendry was gone. His cup sat on the sill, still full, and for a week after, the sky over Marrowby had its sleeves rolled up.

So when you look up tonight and the stars seem to be moving, don't be frightened. It's only Hendry, minding the churn.