Its swirls have long left art experts suffering for their sanity, as they try to work out whether The Starry Night was indeed real.
asserted
Night → leave → sanity
But now we understand, it seems, exactly which evening Vincent Van Gogh painted in his iconic work.
asserted
Gogh → understand → work
For, according to calculations by researchers, the piece depicts the sky as it was just before dawn on July 22, 1889.
uncertain
it → accord → July
It is believed to show the view from the Dutch artist's window in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France.
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It → believe → Provence
The artwork had left critics bitterly divided over whether the scene was merely a figment of his imagination.
Yet it seems all that was needed to crack the decades-old mystery was a spot of star gazing.
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that → leave → gazing
The researchers found that in the piece, the waning crescent moon, the planet Venus, and the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus were shown as close together.
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moon → find → Taurus
And that scene exactly matched what would have taken place on that summer night, according to the team from Korea, which published its discovery in Scientific Reports.
uncertain
which → match → Reports
A team of Korean researchers have finally settled the debate by pinpointing the precise night sky that inspired Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night through the constellation he painted
The Starry Night is the most celebrated painting from Van Gogh's stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum, inspiring Don McLean's hit song Vincent.
The artist found himself there after a serious mental breakdown that May, which famously involved cutting off part of his left ear.
uncertain
which → settle → ear
As such, these unusual circumstances have led the painting to be the centre of fervent speculation over its possible hidden meanings or symbolic content.
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circumstances → lead → meanings
But the biggest puzzles have been what the painting really shows and when it was painted.
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it → show → what
Traditionally, the painting has been dated by a letter Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo, around June 18, 1889.
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Gogh → date → June
But if The Starry Night does resemble the sky as Van Gogh really saw it, then this could not be the case.
uncertain
this → resemble → it
That is because in early June, the Moon would have been waning gibbous - when only half of it is visible - which doesn't at all match the slim crescent depicted.
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which → wan → crescent
Art historians have also identified the bright cluster of stars in the painting as Aries, but astronomers say this doesn't make sense.
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this → identify → sense
Scientists started by looking at the night sky in Van Gogh's paintings, which have been accurately dated, including Café Terrace at Night (pictured)
Scientists discovered that the paintings did, in fact, accurately depict the night sky, with Café Terrace at Night showing a constellation called the summer triangle and Starry Night over the Rhône capturing the Big Dipper.
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Terrace → start → Dipper
Lead author Elijah Jeong–hyun Kim, PhD candidate at Kyung Hee University and CEO of SLLAB, says: 'To an observational astronomer, the cluster of stars in The Starry Night is the Hyades in Taurus.'
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cluster → say → Taurus
First, the researchers looked at two of Van Gogh's night sky paintings that are dated very accurately thanks to an abundance of historical sources – Café Terrace at Night and Starry Night over the Rhône.
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that → look → Rhône
Using an astronomical model, the researchers were able to reconstruct the night sky as it would have been on the day those paintings were made, and compared it to Van Gogh's field of view.
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paintings → use → view
They discovered that the paintings did, in fact, accurately depict the night sky, with Café Terrace at Night showing a constellation called the summer triangle and Starry Night over the Rhône capturing the Big Dipper.
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Night → discover → Dipper
Using these techniques, the researchers then turned to the question of when The Starry Night itself was painted.
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Night → use → question
During two trips to France in 2019, the researchers retraced Van Gogh's location to work out his exact view down over the town of Saint–Rémy.
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researchers → retrace → Rémy
Reconstructing the night sky for that period, they found that the stars would have been arranged just as they are in The Starry Night on July 22 – a month later than had previously been estimated.
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they → reconstruct → July
Scientists travelled to Saint–Rémy–de–Provence, France, to work out the exact view Van Gogh would have had from the window of his room in the Saint–Paul–de–Mausole mental asylum (pictured)
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Gogh → travel → asylum
Researchers found that The Starry Night matches the exact night sky that Van Gogh would have seen from his room in the early hours of July 22, 1889
Statistical analysis then confirmed the correspondence between the five central stars of The Starry Night and the Hyades, with an even closer match in the pen drawing Van Gogh made after the painting.
Checking the historical weather records, the researchers found that the sky that night would have been clear enough for Van Gogh to see such an astronomical arrangement.
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Gogh → find → arrangement
Additionally, frequent mentions of cicadas in Van Gogh's letters suggest a period of hot weather, which better matches the temperature records for July.
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which → suggest → July
This suggests that Van Gogh likely sketched the night sky as he saw it in the early hours of July 22, and then finished the final painting over the following days.
uncertain
he → suggest → days
Mr Kim says: 'I hope this work prompts a renewed, multidisciplinary look at the sequence and working methods of the Saint–Rémy paintings, and at Van Gogh's movements that summer.
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work → say → movements
We plan to tell those stories one by one.'
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We → plan → one
The Aporia
