A new study suggests that Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” reflects the sky before dawn around July 22, 1889. The painting was inspired by the view from his hospital room in Saint-Rémy, southern France. Art historians generally date it to June, partly because Van Gogh mentioned a new starry-sky study in a letter to his brother Theo around June 18.
Led by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, researchers in South Korea compared the painting with computer reconstructions of the sky. They found that five central stars closely matched the Hyades, a V-shaped star group. The positions of the Moon and Venus also supported a July match. The researchers suggest that Van Gogh may have begun the painting in June and continued working on it in July. Their study appeared in Scientific Reports.
However, astronomer Donald Olson questions the narrow field of view—the amount of scenery included—that the team used. He argues that the painting’s hills and cliffs require a wider view. The researchers acknowledge that a matching star pattern alone is not enough to identify the stars. Their findings do not establish an exact completion date, and Van Gogh may have combined skies observed over several days.
