The swirling skies of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night have appeared underfoot in a contemporary representation of the 1889 painting.

In the Dutch town of Eindhoven where Van Gogh resided for part of his life, a cycleway designed by artist Daan Roosegaarde utilises innovative ‘Smart Highway’ technology to recreate the master’s skies in a twinkling pathway fully visible only in darkness.

The path is comprised of tens of thousands of faux stones poured into concrete, which are covered in a phosphorescent paint that allows them to charge during the day and illuminate the path with their blue and green hues in darkness.

Roosegaarde said he wanted the landscape to speak to everyone. “A good project generates new stories. 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,” he said. “It’s a new system that is self-sufficient and practical, and just incredibly poetic.”

The glowing path was opened in November to mark 125 years since Van Gogh’s death. The smart technology behind the luminescent pebbles was developed in collaboration with Dutch company Heijmans, the same company that is helping Roosegaarde create the technology for his ongoing project ‘Smart Highway’, which utilises the same concept for interactive, futuristic road markings. A pilot of the technology went live in The Netherlands in 2014, in which glowing lines were installed on a section of highway. Replacing traditional road markings, they charge during the day and illuminate at night.