oil - on - canvas painting is dominated by a night sky roiling with chromatic blue swirls, a glowing yellow crescent moon, and stars rendered as radiating orbs. one or two cypress trees, often described as flame - like, tower over the foreground to the left, their dark branches curling and swaying to the movement of the sky that they partly obscure. amid all this animation, a structured village sits in the distance on the lower right of the canvas. straight controlled lines make up the small cottages and the slender steeple of a church, which rises as a beacon against rolling blue hills. the glowing yellow squares of the houses suggest the welcoming lights of peaceful homes, creating a calm corner amid the painting ’ s turbulence.