Science

They found that some of the laws that apply in the physics of real skies also apply in the artist’s depiction.


Since you can’t really “see” air, I’d go with a slightly different explanation. Being a gardener and being so connected to my plants, I think he connected with nature on a very deep but subconscious level.

How does this express itself, like what Van Gogh did? In my case I was telling students about a particular kind of pest and how to spot it when it lay its eggs. A student said he wished he could see what it looked like.

Without even thinking, I said sure and walked to one of hundreds of plants in this garden. I flipped the leaf over and there were the eggs. I showed the students.

Later a student asked how I knew where to find the pest and its eggs. I didn’t know how to answer.

Similarly, I think Van Gogh felt out the air currents.Just in tune with nature.