Basket of Pansies on a Small Table by Van Gogh Tissue Paper

Basket of Pansies on a Small Table by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1887, is a lively still life painting of a bouquet of pansy flowers set on a table that resembles a tambourine. The colourful range of yellow, violet and red flowers are built up in thick, overlapping strokes of thickly applied, impasto oil paint, set against a sunny but more neutral grey background. Produced some time after Van Gogh moved to Paris, this painting evidences the artist’s absorption of the colour theories of the Impressionist painters. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and bold, heightened colours. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh’s early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in sombre earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to colour and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.