South Korean astronomers have determined that the stars in the background of Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night match photos of the real pre-dawn sky over Saint-Rémy, where the artist created the painting, “in both observation and shape,” placing its likely creation on 22 July 1889.
The research team behind the successful dating said the approach confirms Van Gogh used real stellar observations in his paintings, and could potentially offer more accurate dating for the Dutch impressionist’s other artworks.
Several Dates Proposed for Van Gough’s ‘The Starry Night’
According to a statement from astronomers at SLLAB, a South Korean space-science company, and colleagues from the School of Space Research at Kyung Hee University, art historians typically rely on a letter Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo around June 18th, 1889, when dating the artwork.
However, astronomers have long noted that the waning gibbous moon does not match the slender crescent depicted in the painting. Many have noted a similarity to an existing star cluster in the painting, suggesting another possible date.
“To an observational astronomer, the cluster of stars in The Starry Night is the Hyades in Taurus,” explained Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, CEO of SLLAB and a Ph.D. candidate at Kyung Hee University’s School of Space Research.
Previous efforts to date the sky in van Gogh’s The Starry Night in 1984 and 1986 reached differing conclusions. As a result, the researchers said neither date “displaced the prevailing religious and symbolic interpretations of the painting.”
Still, Kim said, the conflicting dates and a familiar cluster of stars compelled him to investigate. Plus, after years of observing the night sky, Kim and colleagues realized Aries was an unlikely astronomical source of inspiration for the painter.
“The moment I read the earlier studies explaining it as Aries, I heard the painting calling to me,” the first author of the study detailing the new analysis explained.
New Analysis Finds Astronomical Alignments with July 22nd
When analyzing the star patterns, the team suspected a date when the Hyades rose in the east alongside Venus would fit better. The shape of the crescent moon also seemed to match a different date better. Unfortunately, art historians have long assumed this date fell within the timeline of one of Van Gogh’s seizures, making it an unlikely match.
After gathering new astronomical and historical data and two separate field trips to France, the team started a new analysis. This included analyzing weather records with remarks about cicadas in the original French and Dutch letters, suggesting that Van Gogh’s seizure began in late July.
When visiting Arles, the team used photographs taken from the site to verify Van Gogh’s point of view in Starry Night over the Rhône (1888). Next, they visited the exact spot at Saint-Rémy where Van Gogh drew the landscape beneath The Starry Night. The team said this allowed them to reconstruct the site astronomically.
(b) The stars in Café Terrace at Night (1888), left, and the stars around the Summer Triangle, center. The panel at right follows the same layout as in (a). Credit: Kim et al., Scientific Reports (2026), Figs. 2, 4 and S1
According to the team’s Procrustes shape analysis, the five central stars in The Starry Night matched the Hyades. The team said their findings were an even closer match to a pen drawing Van Gogh made after the painting. As a result, they said the work essentially confirms that Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night on July 22nd.
Team Plans to Tell Stories of Artist’s Skies One by One
When discussing the significance of the new analysis, the team said that along with the new date, the team suggested that the Dutch master didn’t create his painting’s sky from pure imagination. Instead, the team’s work indicates that the astronomical background is likely based on actual observation.
Kim said the team hopes the work prompts a “renewed, multidisciplinary look at the sequence and working methods of the Saint-Rémy paintings,” as well as the artist’s movements in the summer of 1889. For example, they said that applying the same method to the stars in Café Terrace at Night (1888) suggests that it “may be the Summer Triangle.”
“Our conversation with Van Gogh’s other skies is still ongoing,” Kim said, adding that the team plans to “tell those stories one by one.”
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.