A new study by South Korean researchers suggests that Vincent van Gogh's famous painting "The Starry Night" may have been inspired by the actual predawn sky over France on July 22, 1889, challenging the long-held belief that the masterpiece was created in June that year.
The findings, published yesterday (22 October) in the journal Scientific Reports, are based on years of astronomical analysis and research into the Dutch post-Impressionist painter's life.
Led by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, chief executive of a Seoul-based telescope maker and a doctoral candidate at Kyung Hee University, the team identified a celestial scene over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence that closely resembles the painting's depiction of a crescent moon, Venus and swirling stars above a village, with cypress trees on one side.
Art historians have traditionally dated the painting to June 1889, shortly after Van Gogh entered an asylum in France. He had cut off his left ear several months earlier following an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin.
Kim said the sky around July 22 was the closest match to the painting, although the surrounding days could also have provided inspiration.
"No two skies are the same. Something always changes. I believe Vincent noticed those changes and put them into the painting," Kim said in an email, adding that he was confident July 22 was the more likely date.
The study addresses a long-standing puzzle: the moon in the painting appears as a thin crescent, although it did not have that shape in mid-June 1889, said Jose Luis Aragon, a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has studied the artwork but was not involved in the research.
Aragon described the July date as an intriguing hypothesis rather than a definitive conclusion.
Kim's interest in the painting led him to visit France in 2019, including trips in mid-June and around July 22. He observed bright stars rising in the predawn sky in July that were absent from the June sky.
Further analysis suggested that, around July 22, 1889, the moon's shape before dawn resembled the one depicted in the painting. The Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus was also rising in the east alongside Venus. Weather analyses indicated that the sky would likely have been clear enough for Van Gogh to observe these celestial objects.
The researchers also examined Van Gogh's letters to one of his brothers and concluded that a seizure believed to have occurred around that time may have taken place later in July. References to cicadas in the correspondence provided another clue pointing to the warmer month, Kim said.
The team tested its methods against night skies depicted in other paintings, making the research a careful interdisciplinary study, according to Aragon.
However, he noted that Van Gogh painted at the asylum using sketches and memory, suggesting that the sky in "The Starry Night" may combine observations from several nights.
"What I find most convincing is the broader message: The painting is not pure fantasy. Van Gogh watched the real sky very closely," Aragon said.
Despite years of research, Kim has yet to see the original painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
"Now that the paper is out, I really have to go and see 'The Starry Night' in person, don't I?" he said.