The position of the Moon, Venus, and a cluster of stars suggests that Vincent van Gogh may have observed the sky before dawn on July 22, 1889, although it remains impossible to determine with certainty when he completed the painting.
The arrangement of the celestial bodies depicted in Starry Night, one of Vincent van Gogh’s best-known works, may correspond to the sky visible before dawn on July 22, 1889. The conclusion comes from an international team of researchers who combined astronomical simulations, measurements of stellar positions, historical meteorological records, and the painter’s letters to try to determine when the work was created.
Published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, the study proposes that the painting may have been inspired by a real observation of the sky, rather than arising solely from artistic imagination or symbolic depiction. The researchers identified a configuration compatible with the Moon in its last quarter, the planet Venus, and the Hyades star cluster in the Taurus constellation. The analysis challenges the traditional dating, which points to June 1889, a period when the Moon would have been fuller than the one depicted in the painting.
To reconstruct the portion of the sky depicted, Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, Ho Jin, and the other researchers also drew on earlier sketches of the landscape. The meteorological records indicate that July conditions may have allowed observation of the identified celestial bodies. The frequent references to cicadas in Van Gogh’s letters likewise point to a hot period, more compatible with the temperatures recorded in that month.
Nevertheless, the authors emphasize that the results do not allow establishing a definitive date for the completion of Starry Night. The painting may combine observations made across several nights, fused with the artist’s interpretation. The study thus points to July as a hypothesis supported by astronomical and historical evidence, without excluding the possibility that the work was developed over a longer period.
