Between 16 and 18 June 1889, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh created one his most famous works from the view out of an asylum window: The Starry Night. Debate on the masterpiece's distinctive ‘swirls’ has raged ever since, with many saying they were extensions of his fragile state at the time. But now an artist has claimed that the spirals actually depict galaxies in the universe, and were likely inspired by drawings of the cosmos at the time. US artist Michael Benson says the Whirlpool Galaxy inspired van Gogh. The Dutch painter created arguably his most famous work - The Starry Night (shown) - in 1889 from the view out of his asylum window
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US artist Michael Benson says the Whirlpool Galaxy inspired van Gogh
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The Dutch painter created arguably his most famous work - The Starry Night - in 1889 from the view out of his asylum window
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But in 1850, an astronomer had depicted what a distant spiral galaxy might look like for the first time
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And Lord Rosse's Whirlpool Galaxy drawing inspired van Gogh, according to Mr Benson
The link between Lord Rosse's drawing and van Gogh's @placeholder is not completely new.