Tourist’s holiday photo goes viral for eerie similarity to famous painting

A photo taken by a Canadian tourist on holidays in Belgium has been compared to a famous piece of artwork because of its stunning similarity.

It may just look like a carefully curated photo.

But this holiday snap has been compared to a very famous painting, its striking similarity to the 17th Century piece of art.

Snapped by 31-year-old oncologist Doron Berlin, the swirling clouds set against the sun and Belfry Bell Tower of Bruges, in northwest Belgium, in the foreground was a photo opportunity not to be missed.

The Canadian tourist, who visited the region while on holiday in July, said the scene created a “interesting vortex-type look” and the mix of “amazing architecture” and “good lighting” all came together to create a great oil-on-canvas feel — similar to Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece The Starry Night.

“The cloudy sky really did look like a work of van Gogh, and it makes you wonder if this is the type of thing that inspired him,” the 31-year-old said of the image.

Doron Berlin was on holiday in ancient medieval town Bruges last July when she snapped this incredible sight. Picture: SWNS.

‘The Starry Night’ by Vincent van Gogh looks similar to a photo captured by Canadian tourist, Doron Berlin. Picture: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Van Gogh’s The Starry Night is an oil on canvas by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter painted in June 1889. It describes the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an ideal village.

It’s one of the most famous paintings by van Gogh, in which darkness is illuminated by violent flashes and by cosmic energy which seems that it can’t find peace.

Largely self-taught, van Gogh produced more than 2000 oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, and sketches, which became in demand only after his death.

According to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), He also wrote scores of letters, especially to his brother Theo, in which he worked out his thoughts about art.

“Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better,” he wrote in 1874.

“Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.”