Amid the green hills and meadows of central Bosnia, a local businessman has brought his long-held dream to life: recreating Vincent van Gogh’s iconic painting, “The Starry Night,” as a nature park.
Halim Zukic, from the town of Visoko, had envisioned creating a park ever since purchasing land and a cottage in a nearby village 20 years ago. However, he initially had no clear idea of what it should look like.
That changed six years ago when, while standing on a hill and watching tractors in a hay meadow, Zukic noticed the spiral-shaped wheel tracks in the earth. These patterns reminded him of the swirling motifs in Van Gogh’s 1889 masterpiece.
“From that moment, I was no longer in doubt,” Zukic said. However, bringing his vision to life required time, money, and effort.
Zukic wanted the 10-hectare Starry Night park to be part of a larger complex, offering a retreat for visitors. He planted more trees and created 13 lakes using existing natural streams.
To mirror the painting, he planted 130,000 bushes of lavender in six different shades, along with other medicinal and aromatic herbs such as sage, echinacea, wormwood, and chamomile. These plants form colorful circles, spirals, and natural amphitheaters, echoing the patterns of Van Gogh’s work.
Zukic undertook all the landscaping himself, saying that recreating the painting helped him gain a deeper understanding of artists and the creative challenges they face. “This is the largest representation of ‘The Starry Night,’ and the result of 20 years of dreams, of living those dreams to make them real,” he said.
The Starry Night park will focus on art programs and the promotion of central Bosnia’s cultural heritage, according to Zukic.
