1888, and not 1889

The record dates Starry Night Over the Rhone to 1888, the Arles year, and this is the single most useful date in the catalogue to get right. A second and different canvas, The Starry Night, is dated 1889 and held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They are two paintings, made in two years, in two towns, held on two continents. This catalogue holds exactly two works with "starry" in the title, and confusing them is the commonest error made about van Gogh's night pictures.

What the record gives

The canvas measures 72.5 x 92 cm and is held by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The measured palette returns blue and green as the dominant families. Blue is the mark of the Arles year in this catalogue's measurements — a dominant family in 26 of the 135 works dated 1888, the highest count of any year in the arc.

A river, not a village

The title records the Rhône, the river that runs through Arles. The 1889 canvas of the same general subject is titled without a river and belongs to the period after the move to Saint-Rémy. Title, date, dimensions and holding collection all separate them; the record makes the distinction four times over.