Guided tour · One artist · 1853–1890

Van Gogh

Ten years of work, from the grey Dutch coast to the colours of the south: eleven works, in the order he made them.

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Works

11

Time

about 17 min

Collections

5

About this tour

Vincent van Gogh worked as an artist for only about ten years, until his death in 1890. Here are eleven of his works from five museums, in the order he made them: from the dark tones of Holland to the light and colour of France. At every work, look first, then discover.

We begin in 1882, near The Hague, where Van Gogh has been working for just six months.

The 11 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 11

   Bleachery at Scheveningen

   Vincent van Gogh · 1882 · J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

   Something white lies all over this field. What could it be?

   Linen, laid out in the sun to bleach. Women work among it, and more of it blows on the fence.

   “Right on the spot, washed in at one sitting,” he wrote. He probably drew on the other side first, then turned the sheet over and painted this.

2. 

   Work 2 of 11

   The Potato Eaters

   Vincent van Gogh · 1885 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Only one thing lights this room. Can you find it?

   A single oil lamp, hanging over the table. The family eats by its light.

   He wanted to show people who dug the earth with the same hands they eat with. In his famous painting of it, the scene is the other way round.

3. 

   Work 3 of 11

   Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat

   Vincent van Gogh · 1887 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Look at his beard. How many colours can you find in it?

   Orange, red and yellow, with touches of green: short strokes of colour, side by side.

   To save money, he painted it on the back of an older canvas. On the other side is a woman peeling potatoes, painted in Nuenen in 1885.

4. 

   Work 4 of 11

   Square Saint-Pierre, Paris

   Vincent van Gogh · 1887 · Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

   Look at the path and the grass. How are they painted?

   With small dots and dashes of colour, side by side: the pointillist style of the young painters he met in Paris.

   A woman in a red top strolls along the path. In Paris he tried out the newest ideas about colour.

5. 

   Work 5 of 11

   The Flowering Orchard

   Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What season is it?

   Spring: the fruit trees are in blossom.

   In his first spring in Arles he painted a whole series of orchards in flower. He had hoped to find in the south the bright world of the Japanese prints he loved.

6. 

   Work 6 of 11

   La Mousmé

   Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   What is she holding in her hand?

   A sprig of flowering oleander.

   ‘Mousmé’ is a Japanese word for a young woman. Van Gogh found it in a French novel set in Japan.

7. 

   Work 7 of 11

   Portrait of Joseph Roulin

   Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

   Who is this man? Look for a clue.

   His cap says POSTES: Joseph Roulin was a postal worker in Arles.

   Van Gogh called him “so wise and so full of feeling”. Thick reed-pen lines and nervous fine ones make the whole drawing vibrate.

8. 

   Work 8 of 11

   The Night Café

   Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

   Look at the lamps. How did he paint their light?

   As rings of short yellow and orange strokes, glowing against the red wall and the green ceiling.

   He wrote that he wanted to express “the terrible passions of humanity” with red and green. He stayed up three nights to paint it.

9. 

   Work 9 of 11

   Wheat Field with Cypresses

   Vincent van Gogh · 1889 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What is the tall dark shape on the right?

   Cypress trees, rising like a dark green flame above the ripe wheat.

   He wrote that cypresses were as beautiful in line and proportion as an Egyptian obelisk.

10. 

    Work 10 of 11

    The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy)

    Vincent van Gogh · 1889 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

    What is happening in this street?

    The road is being repaired: there are heaps of sand and stones everywhere.

    He described it to his brother Theo: “heaps of sand, stones, and the gigantic trunks—the leaves yellowing”.

11. 

    Work 11 of 11

    Green Wheat Fields, Auvers

    Vincent van Gogh · 1890 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

    Is the wind blowing in this field?

    Yes: the young wheat bends in waves of curling strokes, and the clouds swirl above it.

    He painted it in Auvers, in the last months of his life. Van Gogh died there in July 1890, aged 37.

The end of the tour

Ten years, more than 800 paintings.

From the grey Dutch coast to the wheat fields of Auvers. In his lifetime he sold very little; today his works are among the best loved in the world.

Questions at the end

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• J. Paul Getty Museum
• National Gallery of Art
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Yale University Art Gallery
• Cleveland Museum of Art

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