Vincent Van Gogh painted his 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' between September 24 and 28 in 1888, according to an Italian astrophysicist who has studied the positions of the stars in the picture.
The famous picture is a view of the French town of Arles at night and shows in the sky the seven stars that make up the Plough, which is part of the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation.
"Between September 24 and 28 of 1888, at that latitude and at that time, in that little French village, the Plough occupied the same position in the sky as in the picture," said Gianluca Masi.
"This demonstrates that Van Gogh painted as he looked at it," he added.
But if the Dutch artist painted what he saw in the sky, he appears to have juggled a bit with the directions in order to get the contrast between the gas lamps of the town and the stars.
"The plough is placed in a direction where it would not actually appear, in the southwest instead of the north," Masi explained, suggesting that Van Gogh painted his view of Arles and then turned his easel northwards and painted Ursa Major above the town.
Masi also noticed that the stars at the right end of the Plough were a little too close together. "Evidently they moved in the sky while the artist was working," he suggested, noting that movement would have been noticeable even in half an hour.
The 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' is not the only picture by Van Gogh showing stars but it is the one in which they are represented most realistically.
According to art experts, the challenge of painting at night intrigued Van Gogh. He wanted to capture the sparkling colors of the night sky and the artificial lighting that was new to this period.
The vantage point he chose for Starry Night over the Rhone allowed him to capture the reflections of the gas lighting in Arles across the glimmering blue water of the Rhone.
The artist mentioned having painted the Plough in a letter to his brother on September 28, 1888. Until now it was not clear how much time had passed between the letter and the painting.
Masi's calculations indicate Van Gogh may have written the letter on the very day when he painted the picture.
