Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) Exhibition Collection
Post-Impressionism • Arles & Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (1888–1890)
Between his arrival in Arles in February 1888 and his departure from the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in May 1890, Vincent van Gogh worked at an almost breathless pace. Leaving behind the muted earth tones of his early Dutch years, he embraced newly invented nineteenth-century pigments like chrome yellow and cobalt blue, laying paint down in thick, directional ridges that catch real physical light.
These five canvases from The Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gogh Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Kröller-Müller Museum show Van Gogh at the height of his powers: painting a starlit Arles café without a drop of black paint, filling a vase with three shades of yellow to welcome Paul Gauguin, and celebrating the birth of his namesake nephew with branches of blossoming almond against a spring sky.
The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Universally celebrated as the apex of Post-Impressionism, this nocturnal vision redefined painting as an expression of inner emotion rather than literal observation. Merging direct outdoor studies with memory and spiritual imagination, the composition pairs Southern French hills with a northern Dutch steeple to bridge earthly stillness and cosmic infinity. Applied in sculptural, rhythmic impasto straight from the tube, luminous ultramarine and Indian yellow strokes make the night sky physically pulse with movement and light.
Sunflowers
Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Revered as a radiant touchstone of Post-Impressionism, this jubilant still life transformed a humble botanical subject into a timeless symbol of gratitude, vitality, and creative kinship. Orchestrated as a daring symphony of yellow-on-yellow, the composition achieves remarkable spatial depth and warmth using almost no contrasting dark shadows at all. Enabled by newly invented nineteenth-century synthetic chrome yellow pigments, the artist sculpted each stage of bloom with rhythmic, high-relief impasto that makes the canvas physically glow with Provençal sunlight.
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Irises
Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Conceived as what its creator called a “lightning conductor for my illness,” this Post-Impressionist triumph channels turbulent emotion into disciplined natural vitality. Heavily influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, the composition eliminates the horizon entirely, using flattened spatial planes and bold sinuous outlines to immerse the viewer in living color. Conservation science later revealed that fugitive red lake pigments gradually faded over time, transforming the blossoms from their original violet into luminous cobalt blue.
Café Terrace at Night
Vincent van Gogh (1888)
A visionary breakthrough of Post-Impressionism, this work was painted directly on site beneath the evening sky, marking a daring departure from studio tradition. Guided by complementary color theory, the composition ignites an electric dialogue between warm yellow gaslight and deep cobalt nocturnal shadows, drawing the eye down the perspective of the cobblestones. Remarkably, the entire night scene was achieved without a single drop of black paint, relying solely on contrasting pigments to make darkness glow.
Almond Blossom
Vincent van Gogh (1890)
A deeply personal masterwork of Post-Impressionism, this radiant canvas symbolizes resilience, familial devotion, and the first awakening of spring. Drawing directly from Japanese ukiyo-e print design, the composition abandons conventional ground planes for a daring upward vantage point, flattening perspective against a luminous turquoise sky. Across the surface, bold calligraphic dark contours carve out the twisting branches, while sculpted, high-relief impasto gives each delicate blossom a tactile, three-dimensional presence.
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