Vincent van Gogh
Today we start our special month with the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands. : ) Did you know that it has the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, after the Van Gogh Museum? So, we couldn't start our month any way but with this beautiful van Gogh painting. : ) Enjoy!
For Van Gogh, the cypress was the ultimate symbol of Provence. "The cypresses still preoccupy me," he wrote to his brother Theo, "I’d like to do something with them like the canvases of the sunflowers, because it astonishes me that no one has yet done them as I see them. It’s beautiful as regards lines and proportions, like an Egyptian obelisk. And the green has such a distinguished quality."
Van Gogh painted Country Road in Provence by Night shortly before leaving the asylum at Saint-Rémy. This is not an existing landscape, but instead composed at his own discretion, presumably as a final reminder of Saint-Rémy and as a summary of the many impressions he acquired during his stay in Provence.
Van Gogh experimented with his use of color and brushwork in Saint-Rémy. Many works were composed of graceful forms and swirling lines. That is also the case here. The short, rhythmic wavy brushstrokes placed side by side give the painting great dynamism.
Have a great Sunday!
P.S The Kröller-Müller Museum holds the second-largest Van Gogh collection in the world. Furthermore, there are masterpieces by modern masters such as Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Pablo Picasso, and Piet Mondrian. There would be no museum, however, if it were not for Helene Kröller-Müller. She is the woman behind the idea and the collection of the museum. Read her story here!