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This Van Gogh-Inspired Swimming Pool Lets You Swim in the ‘Starry Night’ Sky

By Emma Taggart on February 15, 2021

Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night is one of the most iconic paintings from art history, and it continues to inspire artists today. From embroidery designs to LEGO sets, the painting has been modernized and reinterpreted many times. However, the latest Starry Night-inspired creation takes the famous image to a whole new scale. Buenos Aires-based artists Camila Despalanques and Rocío Fernández (of Amancay Murales) painted the bottom of a swimming pool to mimic Van Gogh's swirling brushstrokes.

A swimming pool seems a fitting choice as the mural’s canvas, given the wave-like patterns of Van Gogh’s sky. The 7 x 3.5 meter (22 x 11 feet) piece was hand-painted over the course of several days, and features tons of beautiful details. Despalanques and Fernández started with a vibrant blue-colored base, and began adding the elements of the famous night sky, including the moon, stars, and swirling formations. The artists even included the painting’s flame-shaped trees on the sides of the basin.

When the pool is filled with water, the mural's brushstrokes should look as though they’re flowing, rippling, and twisting right before your eyes. Perhaps this is close to how Van Gogh saw the sky as he was painting it from his room at the mental health hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

Check out the Van Gogh-inspired swimming pool below. For those who are lucky enough to use it, it would feel like swimming in the sky!