Van Gogh Caravans 02
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Van Gogh Caravans 02
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Caravans, Gypsy Camp near Arles, Vincent van Gogh, 1888. Panoramic crop.
This energetic painting shows the transition from van Gogh’s more naturalistic Paris works to the extravagant color of the south. Van Gogh moved to Arles in February 1888 and in the space of fifteen months completed 200 paintings—almost one every two days—as well as more than 100 drawings and watercolors. He often appealed to his brother Theo in Paris for money for materials; when funds were short, he concentrated on drawing in ink, with reed-pens he carved himself.
In Caravans, gypsy camp near Arles, van Gogh alternates between thick impasto in the foreground and areas of the sky, and the sparse mid-section where the canvas shows through. In this and other paintings from the period, he worked rapidly, executing a ‘succession of studies with quick yet coherent brushstrokes’.
Here we sense the artist’s intense feeling at a unique moment, and at a specific site: nothing breaks the horizon except a windmill, itself the merest suggestion of a distant structure. The frieze of figures, vehicles and horses, also rendered with minimal means, seems designed to emphasize the flatness of the landscape. Only the tree at right and the scrubby vegetation at left offer refuge from the sun. The empty foreground adds to the feeling of harsh desolation, a suggestion, perhaps, of the peripheral position of gypsy people. The intensity of the light suggests the glorious palette of works to come, such as Van Gogh’s bedroom at Arles.
This painting can be admired at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France.
As for Paris... what can one say about the City of Light that has not already been said...?
More amazing paintings one copy-paste away at my gallery at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/paintings
More views of Paris one copy-paste away in my Gallery at http://westonwestmoreland.com/collections/paris
Weston Westmoreland.
Uploaded
November 2nd, 2020
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