How Astronomers and Art Historians Are Working Together to Identify the Inspiration Behind Famous Works of Art

Researchers study paintings and literature to uncover untold history of the works, sometimes finding themselves trying to discern celestial bodies from dust

Caspar David Friedrich’s The Evening Star is noteworthy for its Romantic sweep—and for the elusiveness of the stellar body (Venus) in its title. Public Domain

In the spring of 2025, I fell into some art detective work. My mission was to go to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and get close to The Evening Star by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich . The Evening Star —a nickname for Venus —joined several works not previously displayed in the United States, part of a Friedrich exhibition called “The Soul of Nature,” honoring the 250th anniversary of the artist’s birth. According to the museum’s description, Venus could be seen as “a tiny bright dot” barely visible above a cloud bank.…