Van Gogh\u27s "Starry Night" and Whitman: A Study in Source

Proposes that Whitman was a key influence on Van Gogh\u27s "Starry Night" painting in ways not previously understood, arguing that Van Gogh "was most profoundly moved by the Columbus poems in Leaves of Grass" and demonstrating that "the later Columbian Whitman of \u27Passage to India\u27 and \u27The Prayer of Columbus\u27 . . . explains more of the painting\u27s imagery and explains it more thoroughly than any current interpretations," linking "Van Gogh\u27s \u27Starry Night\u27 to the celestial navigations projected in Whitman\u27s Columbus poems.