New Study Claims Van Gogh Painted The Starry Night on July 22, 1889
Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” may have been based on one specific night sky: July 22, 1889, just before dawn over France, according to findings published October 22 in Scientific Reports.
- New astronomical research published in Scientific Reports indicates “The Starry Night” maps to the predawn sky of July 22, 1889.
- Researchers applied Procrustes shape analysis to match the painting’s star patterns with the Hyades star cluster.
- Art historians previously favored a mid-June 1889 date based on van Gogh’s personal correspondence, creating ongoing debate over whether the sky was purely imagined.
Astronomical Analysis Challenges June Dating Theories
For decades, art historians dated the creation of “The Starry Night” to mid-June 1889. That timeline rested primarily on a letter van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo on or about June 18, stating he had completed a new study of a starry sky. Astronomer Donald Olson of Texas State University in San Marcos noted that historians favored the June date because van Gogh himself indicated that timing in his correspondence.
This reliance on historical letters led to conflicting astronomical interpretations in the 1980s. One researcher proposed the painted sky matched June 19, 1889, identifying the swirly stars as the constellation Aries. A second researcher disputed that date by pointing to cloudy weather records from Aix-en-Provence, concluding instead that the canvas represented a constructed celestial composite rather than a direct observation.
Procrustes Shape Analysis Tests the Hyades Hypothesis
Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, an astronomer and founder of a telescope-building company called SLLAB Inc. in Seoul, South Korea, approached the painting without being constrained by the traditional June timeline. Kim suspected the prominent stars in the painting represented the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus, rather than the fainter stars of Aries. To test this hypothesis, Kim and his colleagues utilized a statistical technique known as Procrustes shape analysis to quantify the geometric match between the canvas coordinates and real stellar arrangements.
The research team also examined another van Gogh skyscape, “Starry Night Over the Rhône,” which explicitly depicts the Big Dipper. Finding a similar degree of correlation across both works provided a major analytical clue. Utilizing computer simulations capable of calculating celestial positions down to the second for 1889, Kim factored in the positions and phases of the moon and Venus to narrow down the execution date.
Scientists trace van Gogh’s The Starry Night to an actual night sky from 1889https://t.co/MklDF4Kd2b
Field of View Discrepancies Spur Ongoing Debate
Despite the precise computer modeling pointing to July 22, 1889, skepticism remains regarding the exact vantage point. Olson questioned whether the narrow field of view assumed by the researchers is consistent with the much wider perspective required to encompass the painting’s round hills and cliffs. Olson proposed that asking an experienced amateur astronomer to identify the bright star Aldebaran within the painting’s configuration would reveal divergent interpretations.
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