Story highlights
Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde's illuminated bike path was inspired by Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting
Path illuminated by thousands of twinkling stones featuring glow-in-the-dark, solar-powered LED lights
Glowing cycle path part of a larger Van Gogh Cycle Route in the province of North Brabant
An artist in the Netherlands has created an incredibly beautiful tribute to Vincent van Gogh – an illuminated bike path that glows in the dark.
Inspired by the famed Dutch painter’s “Starry Night” work, artist Daan Roosegaarde teamed up with Heijmans Infrastructure to create the 1-kilometer-long Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path, which opened in the city of Eindhoven on November 13.
The path is illuminated by thousands of twinkling stones that feature glow-in-the-dark technology and solar-powered LED lights.
“I wanted to create a place that people will experience in a special way, the technical combined with experience, that’s what techno-poetry means to me,” said Roosegaarde in a statement.
This isn’t the first time Roosegaarde has teamed up with construction-services business Heijmans.
The collaborators have also been working on a series of “Smart Highways,” a concept that combines light, energy and road signs that react according to the present traffic situation.
Van Gogh 2015
The opening of the Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path marks the start of Van Gogh 2015, a year of cultural events being held in the Netherlands, Belgium and France to honor the 125th anniversary of the death of van Gogh (1853-1890).
The “Starry Night”-inspired road is part of the larger Van Gogh Cycle Route in the province of North Brabant – Van Gogh’s homeland.
The entire route is 335 kilometers (208 miles) long and split into five individual round trips, which can each be cycled in a day and connect several van Gogh heritage locations in North Brabant, where the artist was born and raised.