Anyone can instantly recognize the swirling clouds in Vincent van Gogh's painting Starry Night, but fewer people know that the clouds in the picture's seemingly chaotic sky are actually swirling strictly according to the laws of physics — at least that's what they are. A recently published study conducted by Chinese researchers claims.
Perhaps one of the most famous Impressionist paintings, Vincent van Gogh painted shortly after his encounter with Paul Gauguin (after which the artist cut off his ear) and sent him to a mental institution. The oil painting depicts the view of the Provençal landscape from his room there. However, the carefully composed image appears to contain more interesting details – revealing CNN From his reports.
Currents
This time, researchers from Xiamen University took a look at something in the image that physicists have not yet shown interest in: There are 14 smaller and larger vortex-like shapes in the blue sky in the painting. During their investigations, the research group led by Yongxiang Huang noticed that the pattern of clouds swirling over the countryside perfectly conformed to the laws of flow science, which is famous for its complex mathematical structure.
Testing the theory has proven to be no easy task, because we only see the clouds hovering in the sky in the image as if they are moving, but it is still not possible to measure their speed or direction of movement. Finally, the researchers analyzed Van Gogh's imaginary Sky Streams by counting brushstrokes and observing the distribution of dark and light shades, then compared them to other images of real gases and liquids.
The plate was compared with different flowing liquids
Source: Photo Deposit
Van Gogh and science
Based on the results of computer tests, it is clear that Vincent van Gogh must have studied nature a lot, because the eddies and currents he drew correspond exactly to the patterns we can see when real liquids (or gases) flow. By the way, their laws were first described in 1940 by the Soviet mathematician Andrei Kolmogorov, but it seems that the Dutch painter was able to accurately depict what he saw in his time even without them.
However, this is not the only law of physics that Van Gogh's imaginary vortices obey. The study conducted by Chinese researchers reveals that the smallest circles shown in the painting are arranged around the larger circles, exactly as expected based on the theory formulated by the famous Australian mathematician George Batchelor in 1967.
Accordingly, it is not really likely that Van Gogh found the shape and location of the vortices merely by chance, especially since the research group also examined other paintings where the flows certainly did not behave as realistically as the clouds of the sky. Starry night.
These are also worth reading:
The Eiffel Tower manages to stay in place thanks to one little trick
A 17th century sword carried by an executioner carries a powerful message
