Vincent van Gogh Paintings from Paris

Vincent van GoghpaintedWheatfield with a Larkin the fields outside Asnières in 1887. He portrayed thegrainstalks at their fullest summer height, blowing in the wind of an approaching storm.

A lark soars across the still-bright sky. Traditionally, the flight of a lark indicates happiness, but van Gogh may have used the soaring bird to embody the sense of freedom he felt when working outdoors in the countryside.

Vincent van Gogh introduced a deep, rich gold tonality into the somber browns of his palette with his paintingA Pair of Shoes. Continue to the next section to learn about this painting.

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Vincent van GoghpaintedA Pair of Shoesin 1885. The painting's simple subject -- a pair of worn work boots -- gave van Gogh the opportunity to concentrate on the issues of color and brush stroke.

Van Gogh painted the boots in the dull browns of his Nuenen palette, but he set them against a fresh background of gold. He applied his paint thickly, leaving distinct brush strokes in the foreground and working a crosshatch pattern in the back, giving as much importance to his surface as his subject.

Learn how the Paris art community influenced van Gogh'sThe Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry,the painting in the next section.

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Influenced by the innovations of the Paris art world,Vincent van GoghpaintedThe Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry在1886年。

Van Gogh made regular visits to exhibitions in Paris and pursued introductions to artists, whom he liked to visit in their studios. This wealth of influence prompted him to experiment, as seen here with his daring introduction of violet and pink in the volatile sky and the square touch of the brush strokes, which conveys the solidity of the rock walls of the quarry.

Learn how Vincent van Gogh experimented with pointillism to create the self-portrait in the next section.

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Inspired by the stylistic innovations ofGeorges Seurat,Vincent van Goghpainted this self-portrait in 1887. In this painting, van Gogh experimented with a pointillist brush stroke.

Van Gogh's use of the color complements red and green illustrates his desire to understand Neo-Impressionism, but his stroke remained emphatically expressive in contrast to the neutral surface effect the optical approach was formulated to achieve. Rather than the cool, intellectual objectives of Seurat's pioneering theories, van Gogh's work suggests emotional turbulence.

Keep reading to observe how painting outdoors enriched the colors ofLe Moulin de la Galette.

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Vincent van GoghcompletedLe Moulin de la Galette在1886年。虽然livi梵高创作这幅画ng with his brother in an apartment in Montmartre on the northern edge of Paris.

From the apartment it was an easy walk to the outskirts of the city where small cottage farms could be found nestled among the hills. Painting outdoors helped van Gogh explore the effects of naturallight, which gave his palette a sun-drenched quality that purged his rural subjects of their characteristic somber tonalities.

The cafe in the next painting,Terrace of a Café on Montmartre (Le Guinguette), has been depicted by many artists. Keep reading to discover what makes van Gogh's interpretation unique.

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Vincent van Goghpainted咖啡馆的露台蒙马特(LaGuinguette)在1886年。Usually the setting for a lighthearted scene of leisure, notably in the work ofPierre-Auguste Renoir, the painting's outdoor café takes on a sober note in the low autumnlight.

Van Gogh works in his figures as mere suggestions of form with weighted calligraphic strokes and a dark palette of brown and carmine red. The streak of aqua on the lamppost presents a startling contrast as does the free handling of the trees and volatile sky.

Vincent van Gogh continued his experiments with color inVegetable Gardens and the Moulin de Blute-Fin on Montmartre.Keep reading to learn about this painting.

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Vincent van Goghcontinued his experiments in color throughout his stay in Paris, completing paintings like his 1887 workVegetable Gardensand the Moulin de Blute-Fin on Montmartre.

Van Gogh lightened his palette further as he worked outdoors, and he shifted his interest in the interaction of complements from red and green to yellow and blue. In this vista of a cottage farm and its windmill, van Gogh also varied his application of pigment, using a pointillist touch for the fields and a broken brush stroke for the sky.

Continue to the next section to observe the relationship between complementary colors in van Gogh'sAgostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin.

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Vincent van GoghpaintedAgostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin在1887年。The painting's namesake -- Agostina Segatori -- was the proprietor of the Café Tambourin, a cabaret frequented by painters.

Segatori allowed van Gogh to install an exhibition of his Japanese prints in her café, and she posed for him on several occasions. Here, he surrounds her with subtle variations in green with red and aqua highlights. The effect is both decorative and disturbing, due to the chromatic vibrations that result in the pairing of complementary colors. The table is in the form of a tambourine, the namesake of the café.

Vincent van Gogh again broadened his color palette when creatingBoulevard de Clichy.Learn about this painting in the next section.

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After years of studying flowers,Vincent van Goghbrought brighter hues to his palette withBoulevard de Clichy, which he painted in 1887.

With floral hues such as violet and rose, as well as jewel tones such as turquoise and burnished gold, van Gogh painted the Boulevard de Clichy with unprecedented lightness and freshness. His touch, expressive yet delicate, reveals that he had absorbed the Neo-Impressioniststroke and transformed it to his own advantage.

Vincent van Gogh often preferred to paint outside of the studio. For an example of the effect this had on van Gogh's work, observeFishing in the Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnieres), the painting in the next section.

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Vincent van GoghcompletedFishing in the Spring, the Pont de Clichy(Asnières) in 1887. The painting was created during regular trips to the Paris suburb of Asnières with fellow painters Paul Signac and Emile Bernard.

Van Gogh and his friends set up their easels in the park and along the riverbanks to catch the natural light. Van Gogh often built his composition up with color, as seen here.

During his time in Paris, Vincent van Gogh created several studies of sunflowers. Keep reading to learn how van Gogh used contrasting colors inGarden with Sunflower.

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Vincent van GoghpaintedGarden with Sunflower在1887年。这幅画反映了梵高的实践of studying flowers to learn how to paint with intense color.

In the previous year, van Gogh used a high point of view on Montmartre to paint a panoramic vista of the cultivated fields with their quaintwindmillson the surrounding rolling hills to the north or the cityscape to the south. In the summer of 1887, he made several studies of cottage gardens with giant goldensunflowersnodding atop their sturdy stalks and towering above the cottage fences.

Keep reading to observe how Vincent van Gogh displays a full range of color inFlowers in a Blue Vase.

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The successful results of his experiments in color,Vincent Van Gogh's 1887 pieceFlowers in a Blue Vaseis a fresh and luminous mixed bouquet.

Bold, yet natural, van Gogh's palette displays a full tonal range from deep brown and violet shadows to pearly whites and opalescent pinks. In his letters to his sister Wil, he listed the colors he had added to his palette: "pink, soft or bright green, light blue, violet, yellow, glorious red."

Continue to the next section to observe the unique color palette of Vincent van Gogh'sSelf-Portrait.

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Throughout the summer of 1887,Vincent van Goghpainted a series of self-portraits. This self-portrait is unique in its color palette.

Although many of van Gogh's 1887 self-portraits employ a warm, yellow-based palette, here van Gogh modulated his tonalities from the ginger red of his beard and hair, the muddied greens of his jacket, to the stark pale of his complexion. Set against a deeply shadowed background, this portrait recalls the influence of Rembrandt, who also painted his own portrait repeatedly and with great variation.

Vincent van Gogh used a bright palette and complementary tones to createCourting Couples in the Voyer d'Argenson Park at Asnieres.Learn about this painting in the next section.

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Vincent van Goghpainted strolling couples in the park with a bright palette and an exuberant touch in his 1887 workCourting Couples in the Voyer d'Argenson Park at Asnières.

The foliage of thetreesreflect his study of complementary tones; the sky is feathered with tiny strokes of the palest shades of blue, violet, and green. In a letter to his sister Wil, van Gogh compared the fundamental harmony of chromatic pairs that together "shine brilliantly" to a human couple declaring, the colors "complete each other like amanandwoman."

Keep reading to learn how van Gogh used bold, contrasting colors to explore the full range of yellow inTwo Cut Sunflowers.

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Two Cut Sunflowersis part of a series of studies of cutsunflowersVincent van Goghpainted in the summer of 1887.

To contrast with the wide range of the color yellow -- from pale citron to deep ocher -- van Gogh set the flower heads against a complementary background of bright blue. The thick impasto he used to describe the radiant petals and twisted stem evoke the robust vigor of the flower in full growth.

Keep reading to explore our final painting,Le Pere Tanguy, Vincent van Gogh's portrait of a Paris art shop proprietor.

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Vincent van GoghpaintedLe Père Tanguy在1887年。Julien Tanguy, known as "Père" or "Papa," sold artists' materials, and Vincent frequented the shop to purchase paint and to visit the informal gallery housed in the back rooms.

Tanguy displayed the work of innovators such asGeorges SeuratandPaul Cézanne. He also sold Japanese prints. Van Gogh began collecting works of the ukiyo-e masters in Antwerp, and in honor of their shared interest, he painted Tanguy's portrait in front of a selection of famous prints.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American painting, including Publication International, Ltd.'s,Monet and Impressionism. Other titles includeSunflowers,Monet's Garden in Art,Van Gogh: Fields and Flowers, andMary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives. Ms. Mancoff is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library.