Vincent van Gogh
“Under the blue sky, the orange, yellow, and red patches of flowers take on an amazing brilliance… in the clear air, there’s something happier, more suggestive of love than in the north.” So wrote Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo van Gogh from Arles in the summer of 1888. In the same letter, he mentioned two painted studies and a drawing of a garden near the town.
Earlier that year, Van Gogh had been thinking about his time in The Hague after learning of the sudden death of his former teacher, Anton Mauve. Mauve had encouraged him to work directly from nature—a lesson Van Gogh continued to follow in the south of France. In Arles, he became captivated by the intense light and colors of the Provençal landscape. Yet in paintings like this, he transformed those observations into something far removed from the restrained realism of the Hague School, using color and brushwork to convey a far more vivid, emotional experience of nature.
Today is the first day of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. For everyone who participates in it, enjoy! :)
P.S. Inspire yourself with more atmospheric views that echo the same intensity of light and emotion found in Van Gogh’s Arles period with our Landscapes 50 Postcards Set! :)
P.P.S. Explore 5 most beautiful Van Gogh’s paintings of nature!