Square Saint-Pierre at Sunset
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, May 1887
oil on canvas on cardboard,
33.0 cm x 42.0 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
It takes a while to figure out what makes this painting so unusual. Van Gogh made the sky largely yellow and the foreground blue. This was his way of suggesting the fall of night. The three figures between the trees are no more than silhouettes.
The painting clearly shows that Square Saint-Pierre in Paris was a fairly new park in Van Gogh's day. The trees are still young. Now called Square Louise-Michel, it leads up to the Sacré Coeur Basilica, one of the city's most famous churches. The basilica was then under construction.
