View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic

Last updated
View of Paris from Vincent's Room
in the Rue Lepic (F341)
Vincent van Gogh - View from Theo's apartment - Google Art Project.jpg
Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year1887
Catalogue
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions46.0 cm× 38.0 cm(18.1 in× 15.0 in)
Location Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
View of Paris from Vincent's Room
in the Rue Lepic (F341a)
Van Gogh - Blick auf Paris aus Vincents Zimmer in der Rue Lepic1.jpeg
Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year1887
Catalogue
Medium Oil on cardboardd
Dimensions46.0 cm× 38.2 cm(18.1 in× 15.0 in)
LocationPrivate collection
View of Rooftops- Vincent Van Gogh 1886 View of Paris from near Montmartre - My Dream.jpg
View of Rooftops- Vincent Van Gogh 1886
View from Apartment in Rue Lepic Drawing- Vincent van Gogh 1887 Vangoghmuseum-d0442V1962-800.jpg
View from Apartment in Rue Lepic Drawing- Vincent van Gogh 1887

View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic (Dutch : Gezicht op de daken van Parijs) is the name of two paintings by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh from 1887, when he lived with his brother Theo in Paris. [1] [2]

Contents

Context

Van Gogh moved from the Netherlands to Paris in February 1886 to live with his brother, Theo, who was an art dealer. The View of Paris from Vincent’s Room in the Rue Lepic was painted from Vincent and Theo’s fourth-floor apartment located in Montmartre, which gave Vincent a vast view of the Paris skyline. At that time, Montmartre was known as an artist's quarter. [3] During the two years that Van Gogh lived in Paris between 1886 and 1888, he was exposed to a vibrant art scene of young artists experimenting with new styles and his style began to evolve away from his “dark-manner Dutch works.” [4]

Living in Paris benefited Van Gogh. In October 1886, he wrote to his friend, Horace Mann Livens, “Paris is Paris, there is but one Paris and however hard living may be here… the French air clears up the brain and does one good, tremendously good.”  During his time in Paris, Van Gogh painted approximately 230 paintings; this constituted the most prolific period in his life. [5]

Composition and analysis

Van Gogh painted the Views of Paris from the perspective of his window in Montmartre looking toward the center of Paris. In the foreground of the composition, we see city blocks and buildings with bright and colorful shuttered windows and an array of rooftops, opening to a view of Paris in the distance with the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in the city’s center beneath the blue and green sky. [6]

Both Views of Paris highlight Van Gogh's Impressionistic style at the time. The paintings are among the first works where he used loose brushwork and the bright, contrasting colors of blues, greens, reds, and yellows. He also incorporated the Pointillism technique, using small dots of color. [7]

Van Gogh created the Views of Paris after a series of related paintings from similar vantage points. Soon after moving to his new apartment in Paris, Van Gogh painted the Roofs of Paris in 1886, from the view of his window which faced southeast. The View of Paris from Vincent’s Room in the Rue Lepic is the third painting in a group of three works created by Van Gogh in 1887 from the view from his apartment. The first was a drawing followed by two paintings. [8] While working on his initial drawing, Van Gogh realized that using a horizontal orientation would not achieve the composition he was envisioning. This along with the all too large building on the right, caused him to scrap it and start over, this time with the vertical orientation. He also switched his location to the living room window, allowing the building on the right to have a smaller space on the canvas. The change of room, the vertical orientation and the addition of a girl on the top balcony to add life to the painting, solved his compositional issues and resulted in the second painting, View of Paris from Vincent’s Room in the Rue Lepic. He then painted a third where he shrunk the size of the building even more, painted under the same name. He then painted another study in oils. [9]

Stylistic evolution

Van Gogh’s style and use of color evolved while living in Paris. His work shifted from the dark, somber hues of his earlier realist paintings to more colorful and textured art. For example, in his earlier work, View From Rooftops in Paris, painted from his apartment in Paris, Van Gogh used a much darker color palette of mostly grays and browns. [10] [11] In his later Views of Paris, we see the transition to the use of more vibrant colors and the pointillist brush technique. [12]

Influences

The Views of Paris were influenced by Japanese prints, which were often of distant views with large objects in the foreground. In the Views of Paris, Van Gogh similarly places buildings and rooftops in the foreground and the view of Paris and the sky in the distance. [13]

Van Gogh was also influenced by the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist movements. [14] He was especially inspired by other young artists like Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as well as the art critic Charles Blanc, all of whom pushed him to use color for its luminous and emotional effect. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent van Gogh</span> Dutch painter (1853–1890)

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold, symbolic colours, and dramatic, impulsive and highly expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Only one of his paintings was known by name to have been sold during his lifetime. Van Gogh became famous after his suicide at age 37, which followed years of poverty and mental illness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Gogh Museum</span> National art museum in Netherlands

The Van Gogh Museum is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 2 June 1973, and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portraits of Vincent van Gogh</span>

The portraits of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) include self-portraits, portraits of him by other artists, and photographs—one of which is dubious—of the Dutch artist. Van Gogh's dozens of self-portraits were an important part of his œuvre as a painter. Most probably, van Gogh's self-portraits are depicting the face as it appeared in the mirror he used to reproduce his face, i.e. his right side in the image is in reality the left side of his face.

<i>Sunflowers</i> (Van Gogh series) Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Sunflowers is the title of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, made a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. About eight months later, Van Gogh hoped to welcome and impress Gauguin again with Sunflowers, now part of the painted Décoration for the Yellow House that he prepared for the guestroom of his home in Arles, where Gauguin was supposed to stay. After Gauguin's departure, Van Gogh imagined the two major versions as wings of the Berceuse Triptych, and finally, he included them in his Les XX in Bruxelles exhibit.

<i>Café Terrace at Night</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Café Terrace at Night is an 1888 oil painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It is also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, and, when first exhibited in 1891, was entitled Coffeehouse, in the evening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent van Gogh chronology</span>

This is a chronology of the artist Vincent van Gogh. It is based as far as possible on Van Gogh's correspondence. However, it has only been possible to construct the chronology by drawing on additional sources. Most of his letters are not dated and it was only in 1973 that a sufficient dating was established by Jan Hulsker, subsequently revised by Ronald Pickvance and marginally corrected by others. Many other relevant dates in the chronology derive from the biographies of his brother Theo, his uncle and godfather Cent, his friends Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meijer de Haan</span> Dutch painter

Meijer Isaac de Haan was a Dutch painter. In French the name was written Meyer de Haan.

<i>Le Moulin de la Galette</i> (Van Gogh series) Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

Le Moulin de la Galette is the title of several paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 of a windmill, the Moulin de la Galette, which was near Van Gogh and his brother Theo's apartment in Montmartre. The owners of the windmill maximized the view on the butte overlooking Paris, creating a terrace for viewing and a dance hall for entertainment.

<i>Asnières</i> (Van Gogh series)

Asnières, now named Asnières-sur-Seine, is the subject and location of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made in 1887. The works, which include parks, restaurants, riverside settings and factories, mark a breakthrough in van Gogh's artistic development. In the Netherlands his work was shaped by great Dutch masters as well as Anton Mauve a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School and a significant early influence on his cousin-in-law van Gogh. In Paris van Gogh was exposed to and influenced by Impressionism, Symbolism, Pointillism, and Japanese woodblock print genres.

<i>Montmartre</i> (Van Gogh series) Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

The Montmartre paintings are a group of works that Vincent van Gogh created in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre while living there, at 54 Rue Lepic, with his brother Theo. Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières in the northwest suburbs. Of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from the Netherlands and Brussels. By the spring of 1887, van Gogh embraced use of color and light and created his own brushstroke techniques based upon Impressionism and Pointillism. The works in the series provide examples of his work during that period of time and the progression he made as an artist.

<i>Seine</i> (Van Gogh series) Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

Seine (paintings) is the subject and location of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made in 1887. The Seine has been an integral part of Parisian life for centuries for commerce, travel and entertainment. Here van Gogh primarily captures the respite and relief from city life found in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands)</span> Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings made during Vincent van Gogh's early artistic career. Most still lifes made in the Netherlands are dated from 1884 to 1885, when he lived in Nuenen. His works were often in somber colors. Van Gogh experimented with the use of light falling across objects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris)</span>

Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 and 1887 after he moved to Montmartre in Paris from the Netherlands. While in Paris, Van Gogh transformed the subjects, color and techniques that he used in creating still life paintings.

<i>Road with Cypress and Star</i> 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Road with Cypress and Star, also known as Country Road in Provence by Night, is an 1890 oil-on-canvas painting by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the last painting he made in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. The painting is part of the large van Gogh collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park at Otterlo in the Netherlands.

<i>Houses at Auvers</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Houses at Auvers is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was created towards the end of May or beginning of June 1890, shortly after he had moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town northwest of Paris, France.

<i>Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase</i>

Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase is an oil painting on canvas created by the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Paris, 1887. The painting is now part of the collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France. This work was made at a time of the life of Van Gogh when he first encountered influences from Impressionists and became aware of light and color, implementing it in his paintings. This painting presages some of his most famous subsequent works, and stands out from other still lifes because of the implementation of mixed techniques and complementary colors.

Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov is an art historian at the University of Toronto at Mississauga and authority on the art of Vincent van Gogh. Her book Van Gogh: The Lost Arles Sketchbook, contains reproductions of sketches said to be by the artist, but the authenticity of which has been disputed.

<i>Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)</i> Painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Portrait of Vincent van Gogh is an 1887 chalk pastel on cardboard by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Toulouse-Lautrec had encountered Vincent van Gogh, eleven years his senior, when they were both taking lessons at the open studio of Fernand Cormon in Paris from 1886 to 1887. The painting is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, catalogued "d693V/1962".

<i>Vincent van Gogh</i> (Russell painting) 1886 painting by John Russell

Vincent van Gogh is an 1886 oil on canvas portrait painting by Australian artist John Russell. It depicts Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, who befriended Russell after meeting him at Fernand Cormon's atelier in Paris, which they both attended. Painted in a realist and academic manner, the portrait shows hints of the impressionist techniques that Russell and Van Gogh began experimenting with in the latter half of the 1880s.

Arnold Hendrik Koning (1860-1945) was a Dutch painter. He painted in the style of the Hague School.

References

  1. "View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic (F341a)". Van Gogh Paintings. Van Gogh Gallery. 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  2. "View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic (F341)". Van Gogh Paintings. Van Gogh Gallery. 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  3. DiMarco, Christa Rose (2015). "Painting in Paris: Vincent Van Gogh, 1886–1888". Temple University, ProQuest: 147–150. ProQuest   1710062327 via ProQuest.
  4. Cowart, Jack (1982). "Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings". St. Louis Art Museum. 16: 12–16 via JSTOR.
  5. Walther, Ingo F.; Mertzger, Rainer (1993). Vincent van Gogh The Complete Paintings. Benedict Taschen. pp. 222–223. ISBN   3-8228-9643-8.
  6. DiMarco, Christa Rose (2015). "Painting in Paris: Vincent Van Gogh, 1886–1888". Temple University, ProQuest: 147–150. ProQuest   1710062327 via ProQuest.
  7. Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1976). Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period. Amsterdam: Victorine, Utrecht Haag. p. 165.
  8. "View from the Apartment in the Rue Lepic Vincent van Gogh, 1887". Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  9. Hendriks, Ella; Tilborgh, Louis van (2011). Vincent van Gogh Paintings Volume 2 (2 ed.). Amsterdam: Lund Humphries. pp. 346–348.
  10. Hendriks, Ella; Tilborgh, Louis van (2011). Vincent van Gogh Paintings Volume 2. Amsterdam: Lund Humphries. p. 204.
  11. "Mindfulness and Art: Rooftops in Paris | National Gallery of Ireland". www.nationalgallery.ie. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  12. Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1976). Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period. Amsterdam: Victorine, Utrecht Haag. p. 95.
  13. Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1976). Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period. Amsterdam: Victorine, Utrecht Haag. pp. 194–195.
  14. Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1976). Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period. Amsterdam: Victorine, Utrecht Haag. p. 64.
  15. Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1976). Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period. Amsterdam: Victorine, Utrecht Haag. p. 64.