- Scientists say they’ve dated Van Gogh’s The Starry Night
- Study says the painting was made on July 22, 1889
- The researchers used AI and CAD tools to help find an answer
The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and it’s generally held that the artist finished the work in June 1889, shortly before a serious mental breakdown. But a new scientific study has attempted to see if technology can find the exact date that the masterpiece was made — and it’s come to a quite different conclusion to past experts.
Research published in the journal Scientific Reports argues that not only was the painting based on a real night sky rather than pulled from Van Gogh’s imagination, but that July 22, 1889 is the most likely candidate for the date of the composition. That flies in the face of the conventional wisdom, and not everyone is happy with that verdict.
The study’s authors reached that conclusion by first identifying the likely location where Van Gogh stood to paint the scene, concluding that he used a narrow field of view when selecting which stars to depict. Using CAD tools and historical astronomical data, they then compared the star positions in the painting to those on every night at that place in June and July 1889, with the dates of June 23, July 22 and July 23 being the strongest matches. Of those, July 22 stood out, with the moon, Venus and the Hyades star cluster all lining up closely with the artwork.
This was backed up with contemporaneous documentary records, such as letters Van Gogh sent to his friends and relatives that described conditions at the time. AI also played a role, with the report noting that the authors used the technology for “language editing, independent cross-checking of the numerical results, and assistance in preparing the deposited analysis code".
In the end, the study authors concluded that the best evidence pointed towards July 22. This “shifts the burden of proof,” they argued, with those contending that the artwork came from Van Gogh’s imagination now needing to explain why it matches an actual night sky from the time he was known to be active.
Doubts emerge
Not everyone agreed with the conclusions drawn by the study. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was quoted in The Guardian as reaffirming that the painting was made in June 1889 and that “Van Gogh was not concerned with exact likenesses. The positions of the celestial bodies depicted can therefore not form a reliable basis for dating the work.”
The Guardian also cited Donald Olson, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Texas State University, who said that “The authors’ assumed narrow field of view, essential for their theory that the stars of the Hyades fill most of the canvas, is inconsistent with the much wider field of view required to encompass Starry Night’s round hills and cliffs.”
I also can’t help feeling that, whether it’s on the money or not, this scientific study misses the point of paintings like Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The entire purpose of art is to make you feel something on an emotional level, and often the scientific accuracy is far less important than the emotive impact. Trying to pin down the exact date the painting was made risks missing the forest for the trees and ignoring the message that the artist was trying to convey.
Still, if you are interested in knowing exactly when Van Gogh might have set his paint on the canvas to make The Starry Night, the study is a fun attempt at drawing a conclusion that isn’t just based on educated guesswork. Hopefully you can still enjoy the painting on its own merits, whether or not you agree with the researchers’ conclusions.