Vincent van Gogh - Farmhouse in Provence [1888]

Vincent van Gogh - Farmhouse in Provence [1888], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888, the landscape covered with snow. But it was sun that he sought in Provence - a brilliance and light that would wash out detail and simplify forms, reducing the world around him to the kinds of flat patterns he admired in Japanese woodblock prints.

Pairs of complementary colours, the red and green of the plants, the woven highlights of oranges and blue in the fence, even the pink clouds that enliven the turquoise sky, shimmer and seem almost to vibrate against each other. This technique was used by the impressionists to enhance the luminosity of their pictures. 

[Oil on canvas, 46.1 x 60.9 cm]