Provenance

Gaston Bernheim de Villers

Bernheim, Gaston
Villers, Gaston de

French, 1870 - 1953

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A white path and gray stone wall wind through ochre and harvest-yellow fields beneath a brilliant, turquoise sky in this stylized, horizontal landscape painting. The scene is created with long, visible brushstrokes of vivid color. Closest to us, the field is painted with vertical strokes of golden yellow and pea green. Touches of cardinal red and slashes of pine green create flowers around the end of the stone wall, which curves toward us from the background, at the center of this painting. The wall is painted with horizontal dashes of lilac and lavender purple, salmon pink, and periwinkle blue. A person wearing peach-colored trousers, a peacock-blue shirt, and a dark hat walks away from us, into the field, to our left of the wall. The white road enters the scene from the right, and meets the stone wall and a second wall on the far side of the road at a gate. Two columns rise from the walls to mark the spot of the gate, which opens into a property with three tall haystacks and a house. To our left, the house is painted with areas of warm yellow for the walls, honey brown for the roof, which is outlined in navy blue, and turquoise for the doors and windows. A few green trees, made of dots of bottle and forest green, are scattered near the house and haystacks. One sapphire-blue tree grows near the house. A band of azure blue along the horizon, which comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting, suggests a mountain range in the distance. Swirls of white suggest clouds in the turquoise sky. The paint is visibly textured throughout.
Vincent van Gogh, Farmhouse in Provence, 1888, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.34

Farmhouse in Provence

Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.34

This painting shows six people standing closely together, facing the left, mostly seen from the waist up. The scene is heavily shadowed, and the facial features of the people are mostly made of dark lines. Most of them have downturned mouths, and they all have pale skin. The individuals appear to be a mix of men and women of a variety of ages. In the center appears to be an old, balding man with a bare torso. Behind him and to the right is a person with a white cap on their head and a blue cloak or jacket. In the back of the group, on the right, is a short person, perhaps a child, who also appears to have a bare torso. In the front of the group, on the left, there are three people who appear to have dark hair and simple clothing. The background is dark and shadowed, with some vertical lines and angles suggesting the gray walls of buildings. The scene is illuminated by a yellowish light.”
Honoré Daumier, The Beggars, c. 1843, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.12

The Beggars

Honoré Daumier · c. 1843 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.12

Bibliography

1978

  • Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:I:73-74.