Original - White House at Night is an oil painting created on 16 June 1890 at around 8:00 PM by Vincent van Gogh, in the small town of Auvers-sur-Oise, six weeks before his death. The exact time is known due to the position of planet Venus in the painting. Astronomers Donald Olson and Russell Doescher from the Texas State University-San Marcos calculated that the star in the painting must be Venus, which was bright in the evening sky in June 1890. The painting has a turbulent history. It was considered lost after World War II, but appeared in the Hermitage Museum in 1995 in an exhibition displaying artworks looted by the Soviets at the end of the war.
