View of Arles from Montmajour
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh
- Creation date: Mellom 27. og 29. mai 1888
About
In February 1888 Vincent van Gogh arrived at the southern French city of Arles, where he stayed for over a year and painted some of his most famous pictures. But his lengthy sojourn there also heralded the beginning of the end: his friend Paul Gauguin visited him in autumn 1888, and their time together led to van Gogh suffering a mental breakdown. In May1889 he left Arles to seek help at an asylum in the small town of Saint-Rémy in Provence. In spring 1890 he relocated to Auvers-sur-Oise outside of Paris, where he took his own life later that summer.
View of Arles from Montmajour shows the vista from a ridge northeast of Arles. Montmajour was known as one of the more picturesque localities in the environs of Arles, with its abundant vegetation, venerable abbey, and stunning view of the flat plains of the southernmost part of the Rhône Valley. The foreground is dominated by shrubs and pine trees that partially obscure the road leading toward the city in the background. In the picture, the medieval city of Arles is still characterized by its many church steeples, although a few towering smokestacks harbinger the onset of modern industry. Van Gogh employed a variety of pens to create the drawing, using a blunt reed pen for the rough vegetation in the foreground and a finer quill pen for the intricate details of the background.
Along with several other of the works left behind by van Gogh, View of Arles from Montmajour was shown at Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen in 1893 and sold to a Danish collector. In 1905 the National Gallery acquired it as the first work by van Gogh in its collection.
- Creation date:
- Mellom 27. og 29. mai 1888
- Other titles:
- Utsikt mot Arles fra Montmajour (NOR)
Vue d'Arles prise de Montmajour (FRE) - Object type:
- Drawing
- Materials and techniques:
- Rør- og fjærpenn og blyant på papir
- Material:
- Wove paper, medium thick
- Dimensions:
- Width: 590 mm
- Height: 480 mm
- Keywords:
- Visual art
- Classification:
- 532 - Bildende kunst
- Motif - type:
- Landscape
- Motif - location:
- Montmajour, Arles, Frankrike
- Production place:
- Montmajour, Arles, Frankrike
- Inventory no.:
- NG.K&H.B.00068
- Cataloguing level:
- Single object
- Inscriptions:
- Primary, Inscription, Nede venstre / lower left: Vincent
Secondary, Inscription, Verso, øvre høyre / upper right: [Verso:] No. 6 - Acquisition:
- Purchased 1905
- Provenance:
- [40] Previous owner, H. Chr. Christensen
[50] Intermediary of gift or purchase, Thorvald Erichsen, assumed certain
[40] Previous owner, Vincent Willem van Gogh - Owner and collection:
- Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
- Photo:
- Børre Høstland/Lathion, Jacques
- Messel, Nils. Franske forbindelser: Kunst, kapital og konjunkturer i Norge rundt 1. verdenskrig. Oslo: Messel Forlag, 2016. 50, 51.
- Tilborgh, Ouis van, et al. «Sunset at Montmajour: a newly discovered painting by Vincent van Gogh». The Burlington Magazine 155, nr. 1327 (2013): 696–705. 702, 704–5; note 64.
- Messel, Nils. «van Gogh og Arles». Numer, nr. 34 (2010): 24–25.
- Jansen, Leo, et al. The Real van Gogh: the artist and his letters. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2010. 170; kat.nr. 93.
- Schröder, Klaus Albrecht, et al., red. Van Gogh: Heartfelt Lines. Cologne: DuMont, 2008. 261–4; kat.nr. 67.
- Vellekoop, Marije, et al. Vincent van Gogh: Drawings: Vol. 4: Arles, Saint-Rémy & Auvers-sur-Oise. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2007. 135–8, 139; fig. 342d.
- Heugten, Sjaar van. Van Gogh draughtsman. The masterpieces. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2005. 118, 120, 189.
- Ives, Colta, et al. Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. https://books.google.no/books?printsec=frontcover&id=rqQj_0Tm84IC&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false. 27, 162, 163; kat.nr. 47.
- Dvergsdal, Arne. «Gamle mestere fram i lyset». Dagbladet 28.1.2002, 2002.
- Skedsmo, Tone. Tullinløkka - plass for museum! Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriet, 1997. https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015070208148. 14.
- Faille, Jacob-Baart de la. Vincent van Gogh. The Complete Works on Paper. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1992. 138, 378; kat.nr. 1452; pl. CLVIII.
- Wolk, Johannes van der, et al. Vincent van Gogh: Drawings. Milano: Mondadori, 1990. 256; kat.nr. 183.
- Pickvance, Ronald. Van Gogh in Arles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984. https://books.google.no/books?id=lXBwYseY1uYC&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false. 81–2; kat.nr. 33.
- Hulsker, Jan. The Complete van Gogh. Paintings. Drawings. Sketches. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1977. 322–4; kat.nr. 1437.
- Faille, Jacob-Baart de la. The Works of Vincent van Gogh. His Paintings and Drawings. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970. kat.nr. 1452.
- Tellegen, Annet. «Van Gogh en Montmajour». Bulletin Museum Boymans-van Beuningen 18, nr. 1 (1967): 16–33.
- Carl B. Gunnarsson. «Tegninger av van Gogh i Nasjonalgalleriet». Kunst og kultur 39 (1956): 245–52. 251–2.
- Gran, Henning. «Vincent van Gogh og Danmark og Norge». Ord och Bild, nr. 9 (1953): 513–22.
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