What is the painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh about?

In September 1889, while van Gogh was staying in Arles, he executed a painting commonly known as Starry Night Over the Rhone[1] and later he incorporated a pen drawing in a set of a dozen based on recent paintings. Van Gogh claimed to have a "terrible need for religion" when he painted Starry Night Over the Rhone.[2]