If van Gogh's The Starry Night Depicts Perfect Turbulence, So Should Degas' A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers
Si La Nuit étoilée de Van Gogh dépeint une turbulence parfaite, alors Une femme assise près d'un vase de fleurs de Degas devrait en faire autant
Bourgault, Daniel ; Chavanne, Cédric ; Lemelin, Jérôme ; Grégorio, Sandy ; Galbraith, Peter S. ; Finlay, Warren H.
Année de publication
2025
A recent study suggests that the sky of van Gogh's The Starry Night accurately depicts the intrinsic and complex structure of real, fully developed turbulent flows. This conclusion was reached by comparing the slope of the power spectral density of the image to Kolmogorov's famous ?5/3 law of turbulence. In this essay, we show that this correspondence is coincidental and anecdotal and argue that examining the spectral slope alone is not sufficient to state whether or not a painting, or any other type of image, accurately reflects Kolmogorov-like turbulence. Otherwise, we would be forced to conclude that Degas' A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers also accurately depicts turbulence.</div>
Accès à la notice sur le site du portail documentaire de Météo-France