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0 In the 81 years since, Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece has gone on to inspire everything from a hit single for singer Don McLean in 1971 to mass-produced merchandise including scarves, umbrellas and water bottles.
Now LEGO is getting in on the act, as it invites fans to reproduce the Dutch painter’s brush strokes — in brick form.
The set, created together with New York’s Museum of Modern Art, features a Van Gogh mini-figure. Credit: LEGO
PhD student Cheng said his inspiration was born out of playing around with LEGO and noticing that when he arranged the bricks at random intervals they resembled Van Gogh’s distinctive brush strokes.
“The brushwork goes into many directions in the moon and the swirling cloud, so there was some creative use of bracket and clip elements involved.”
Talking of the decision to turn the design into a LEGO set, Federico Begher, head of global marketing at the toy company, said: “Truman’s design was a masterpiece in itself — showing how many different LEGO elements and techniques could be used to replicate van Gogh’s iconic painting.”
In conjunction with the release, LEGO has launched a competition for fans to submit their own mini-builds inspired by the night sky. Winning designs will form part of an installation displayed in the lobby at MoMA this summer.
The set will initially be available to members of MoMA and LEGO VIPs from May 25, before going on general sale a week later.
