Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is one of the Dutch post-Impressionist's best-known masterpieces, famous for its dreamy swirling evocation of the landscape he saw from the window of an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. But it turns out that the artist's flowing strokes depict some fascinating science too.

A new study suggests Vincent van Gogh showed a deep, intuitive understanding of the mathematical structure of turbulence in his painting “The Starry Night.”

"He was able to reproduce not only the size of whirls/eddies, but also their relative distance and intensity in his painting," according to the Physics of Fluids journal.

After measuring the relative scale and spacing of the whirling strokes, scientists said van Gogh’s 1889 work “accurately captures” cascading energy

But the swirling skies in his masterpiece might be more than a projection of his inner turmoil. According to a new study, van Gogh’s depiction of the night sky is an uncannily accurate representation of a complex physical phenomenon: turbulence.

Visitors will be ‘blown away’ by the masterpieces—but there are intriguing and little-known stories behind many of the loans

A new analysis of the brushstrokes and colors in Vincent van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night reveals a striking similarity to "hidden turbulence" in Earth's atmosphere, suggesting the iconic artist had a surprisingly detailed understanding of natural processes.