Scientists Pinpoint Exact Night Sky That Inspired Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night'
Researchers used astronomical models and Van Gogh's other dated works to determine the precise celestial view depicted in the iconic painting.
A team of Korean researchers has pinpointed the exact night sky that inspired Vincent van Gogh's masterpiece, "The Starry Night," settling a long-standing debate about whether the painting depicts an imagined or a real scene.
According to calculations published in Scientific Reports, the painting captures the sky as it appeared just before dawn on July 22, 1889. During the early hours of that night, the waning crescent moon, the planet Venus, and the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus would have been in close proximity, an arrangement that closely matches the celestial elements in van Gogh's renowned work.
"The Starry Night" was created during van Gogh's stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, where he had admitted himself in May 1889 following a severe mental breakdown.
Previous attempts to date the painting relied on a letter from van Gogh to his brother Theo, suggesting a creation date around June 18, 1889. However, this date presented inconsistencies with the celestial bodies visible in early June, particularly the moon's phase, which was waning gibbous rather than the slim crescent depicted.
To resolve these discrepancies, the researchers first analyzed two of van Gogh's other night sky paintings, "Café Terrace at Night" and "Starry Night over the Rhône," which are accurately dated through historical records. Using astronomical models, they reconstructed the night sky for the dates these paintings were made, confirming that van Gogh had indeed accurately depicted celestial phenomena.
With this established accuracy, the team then focused on "The Starry Night." They visited Saint-Rémy-de-Provence to determine van Gogh's precise vantage point from his asylum window. By reconstructing the night sky for the period, they found that the arrangement of stars and planets matched "The Starry Night" most closely on July 22, 1889.
Statistical analysis further supported the identification of the five central stars in the painting as the Hyades cluster. Historical weather records indicated clear skies on that July night, and van Gogh's letters mentioning cicadas suggested a hot weather period consistent with July temperatures. This evidence points to van Gogh likely sketching the sky in the early hours of July 22 and completing the painting in the subsequent days.
Lead author Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim stated that this research could encourage a multidisciplinary re-examination of van Gogh's painting methods and movements during his time in Saint-Rémy.