Math Masterpiece: Van Gogh’s The Starry Night
Math Masterpiece: Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Van Gogh’s The Starry Night (June 1889, MoMA, NYC) is Van Gogh’s recollection of the night sky as seen from the window in his room at the Asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence in South France. Van Gogh’s brushstrokes captured the effect of motion by employing luminance to portray the flickering of light.
The field of turbulence is one of the few unsolved problems in the world of fluid dynamics and physics. Kolmogorov’s statistical theory in 1941, some 50 years after Van Gogh’s death, predicted the microscales where turbulence, after multiple transfers of energy to smaller similar structures, eventually dissipate into heat. Kolmogorov’s length scale:
Kolmogorov’s length scale
In 2004, NASA published an image from the Hubble Space Telescope with dust moving around a star. Interestingly the movement of the eddies was not compared to that of a scientific or mathematical theory, but to the turbulence depicted in Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. This analogy prompted an analysis comparing Van Gogh’s The Starry Night with Kolmogorov’s microscales, the results: Van Gogh’s turbulence was mathematically precise. Van Gogh's Road with Cypress and Star (May 1890, Kroller Muller Museum, Netherlands) and Wheatfield with Crows (July 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), painted during the same time-period, and while Van Gogh was also thought to be in a protracted psychotic episode, exhibit the same turbulence. Did Van Gogh, with a profound connection with nature and experiencing a turbulent state of mind, intuitively predict turbulence?
Immersive Van Gogh
The original “The Starry Night” is perhaps the top attraction at the Museum of Modern Art in New York Center, however, you can experience “Immersive Van Gogh” at cities throughout North America.
Immersive Van Gogh: 500,000 cubic feet of projection, 60,600 frames of video and 90,000,000 pixels
Designed by Massimiliano Siccardi with soundtrack by Luca Longobardi, you are 'immersed' by the scale and movement of Van Gogh's works projected and reflected onto walls, mirrored sculptures, and the floor. The images emerge as you move through the exhibit, perfectly matched with the haunting soundtrack, a combination of original, classical and modern music. Sunflowers sway in the wind, clouds move overhead, stars twinkle in the sky, you become part of the experience.
I visited, and was captivated by, the Immersive Van Gogh in Denver. If you go to Immersive Van Gogh, do a second walkthrough with Richard Ouzounian’s podcast which is available on the Lighthouse Immersive app.
Flora at Immersive Van Gogh
