A South Korean research team has used celestial mapping to suggest that Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night on the night of July 22, 1889, rather than in June of that year. The finding, published in Scientific Reports, stems from a forensic astronomy analysis that matched the swirling sky and crescent moon depicted in the painting to the actual night sky over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, as it appeared in mid-July 1889. This challenges the long-standing assumption that the masterpiece was completed in June 1889, shortly after van Gogh admitted himself to the asylum.

The study, led by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, a doctoral candidate at Kyung Hee University and CEO of a Seoul-based telescope company, analyzed weather records, astronomical data, and surviving correspondence to narrow the possible dates. Their research indicates that the specific arrangement of stars — including the position of Venus and the Hyades cluster — and the shape of the waning crescent moon align closely with the painting’s depiction only around July 22. Kim stated that the days immediately before and after could also have influenced van Gogh, but July 22 offers the most precise match.

Jose Luis Aragon, a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has studied The Starry Night from a scientific perspective but was not involved in the research, described the work as a “careful and genuinely interdisciplinary study.” He called the July 22 hypothesis “intriguing” but stopped short of calling it definitive.

The researchers traveled to France in 2019 to observe the skies at the two proposed times. They found that in mid-June, the moon appeared too thin and the star patterns did not correspond with the painting. In contrast, the predawn sky on July 22 showed a crescent moon and star field that closely resembled van Gogh’s rendering. Additional clues, such as references to cicadas in letters from that period, suggest the hotter July weather may have occurred closer to the painting’s creation.

Van Gogh painted The Starry Night while staying at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum, likely working from memory and sketches rather than direct observation. The study does not claim the painting was a literal snapshot, but rather that it captures a real night sky observed during a period of intense astronomical interest. Aragon noted that this reinforces the idea that van Gogh was deeply attentive to natural phenomena, even during episodes of illness.

While the findings offer a compelling new perspective, they remain one interpretation among several. The debate over the painting’s origins reflects broader efforts to blend art history with scientific analysis, using modern tools to explore long-standing cultural mysteries.