Landscape from Saint-Remy by Vincent Van Gogh

Landscape from Saint-Remy by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1889, is a painting of an enclosed field of wheat and grass before rolling, sloping hills beneath massive, ominous white clouds against a darkened, blue sky. The swirling rhythms of hills, field, land, plants, clouds and sky knit into an expressive portrait of the inner life of life of nature, painted in thickly applied, expressive brush strokes of thick, impasto oil paints. Van Gogh painted this view and others of the view from the hospital at Saint-Remy in the south of France, where the artist committed himself for a time after suffering a breakdown. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and intense, 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.