Research links Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” to actual sky
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A South Korean research team investigated whether Vincent van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night” depicted a real celestial scene, concluding it likely portrays the pre-dawn sky over Saint-Rémy, France on July 22, 1889.
Researchers from SLLAB and Kyung Hee University analyzed the positions of the moon, Venus, and star clusters in the painting. They found the arrangement corresponded to the night sky visible from Saint-Rémy at that time.
The team determined the grouping of stars previously identified as Aries is more accurately the Hyades star cluster in Taurus. They verified their findings by comparing the painting’s celestial layout with historical weather records, letters van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, and the artist’s limited field of vision. Previous astronomical interpretations of the painting from 1984 and 1986 reached different conclusions about the date and accuracy of the sky’s depiction.
This new research used quantitative methods to examine the celestial arrangement, considering the painter’s perspective and available historical data. The team also suggested a reevaluation of the timing of van Gogh’s illness, proposing his period of incapacitation may have begun later in July than previously thought.
