Astronomers link Van Gogh’s Starry Night to July 1889 sky

A new astronomical study suggests that Vincent van Gogh’s iconic painting, ‘The Starry Night’, may depict a real celestial arrangement observed in the early morning hours of July 22, 1889. Researchers from South Korea, including a team from SLLAB and Kyung Hee University, published their findings in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’.

By using observational geometry and shape analysis, the team identified that the positioning of the Moon, the planet Venus, and the Hyades star cluster in the Taurus constellation closely matches the sky over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence on that specific date. This challenges the long-held consensus among art historians that the masterpiece was completed in mid-June 1889.

While previous theories attributed the work to pure imagination or earlier dates, the researchers noted that the lunar phase in June does not align with the thin crescent shown on the canvas. Instead, the July timeline provides a stronger statistical fit for the celestial bodies depicted. Experts caution that while the findings are significant, they remain a hypothesis rather than absolute proof of the painting's exact creation date.