Starry Night

An artist gives people stars and sunflowers, reaps only contempt in return, and takes his own life. Tupac Shakur draws upon this fate in Starry Night. The poem appears in the first section of the book The Rose That Grew from Concrete and bears the dedication “Dedicated in Memory of Vincent van Gogh.” The title alludes to van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night, created in Saint-Rémy in 1889.

Stars Given, Only Contempt Reaped

The poem addresses the painter directly. It describes a creative heart obsessed with giving something to a dormant and indifferent society. Van Gogh gave people the stars of the night and bountiful bouquets of sunflowers, an allusion to his well-known series of paintings. In return, he received only contempt. However proudly he displayed his paintings: the world did not accept his masterpieces.

In the second stanza, the text turns to death. On that starry night, he had given something to the world and taken something away from it at the same time: the only thing it had never appreciated-his life. Van Gogh died in July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. During his lifetime, he remained unsuccessful.

Tupac Recognizes Himself in the Misunderstood Artist

A natural interpretation is that Tupac recognized himself in the misunderstood artist. The idea that art from the heart is rejected by the world runs through the entire book. Right next to it sits The Shining Star Within!, dedicated to Marilyn Monroe-a second portrait of a star who was exploited and unappreciated.

According to the preface by Afeni Shakur, the poems were written between 1989 and 1991; an exact date is not documented. On the album The Rose That Grew from Concrete (2000), Starry Night was recorded with Quincy Jones and Bay Area rapper Mac Mall.

More on the book in the introduction.