To offer you even more information about the museum and Vincent van Gogh, and serve you better, we use cookies. By clicking ‘Accept’, you are giving us permission to use these cookies. Cookies help us to ensure that the website works properly. We also analyse how the website is used, so that we can make any necessary improvements. Advertisements can also be displayed tailored to your interests. And finally, we use cookies to display forms, Google Maps and other embedded content.
Find out more about our cookies.

Meet
Vincent

Nature and the artist. Solace and inspiration in the open air

Vincent van Gogh saw nature and art as inseparably linked. Nowhere did he find as much inspiration, peace and solace as in nature.

'…if I felt no love for nature and my work, then I would be unhappy.’

To his brother Theo, from The Hague, 26 July 1882

Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul, as it were.


To his brother Theo from The Hague, 10 December 1882

Wandering the fields of Brabant

Vincent spent his childhood in the Brabant countryside. From the village of Zundert, where he was born, he went on long walks through the fields and woods. It was here that he developed his lifelong love of nature.

Letters to Theo

Letter to Theo, London, early January 1874

Letters to Theo

We know a lot about Vincent van Gogh, thanks in large part to the letters he exchanged with Theo. Vincent advised his brother as early as 1874:

‘Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better.’

To Theo from London, early January 1874.

In the evening, when we rode back from Zundert over the heath, Pa and I walked a way, the sun set red behind the pines and the evening sky was reflected in the marshes, the heath and the yellow and white and grey sand were so resonant with tone and atmosphere.


To Theo from Etten, 22 July 1878

Exploring nature

Vincent believed that an artist had to truly know and understand nature. The best way to achieve that was by living and working in the middle of it, in the unspoiled countryside.

‘Superb’ but lonely

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape with a Stack of Peat and Farmhouses, 1883

‘Superb’ but lonely

Vincent went to Drenthe, a province in the northeast of the Netherlands, in search of the unspoilt countryside he had heard about from other artists.

He thought it was ‘superb’, but he was lonely there and returned to Brabant after three months.

Painting outdoors

Painting outdoors

Van Gogh preferred to work outdoors, although it did have its disadvantages:

'‘I must have picked a good hundred flies and more off the 4 canvases that you’ll be getting, not to mention dust and sand &c. — not to mention that, when one carries them across the heath and through hedgerows for a few hours, the odd branch or two scrapes across them &c.’'

To Theo from Nuenen, 4 July 1885

Vincent van Gogh, The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, 1888

'like a porcupine'

'…and am always dusty, always more laden like a porcupine with sticks, easel, canvas, and other merchandise.'

To his sister Willemien, 16-20 June 1888

Atmospheric impressions

Vincent van Gogh, Pollard Birches, 1884

Atmospheric impressions

Vincent made a series of seven drawings in the area around Nuenen, including these pollard birches. He hoped – in vain – that his atmospheric impressions of nature would find a ready market.

Vincent's birds' nests

Bird’s nest, letter sketch, 4 October 1885

Vincent's birds' nests

Vincent used birds’ nests as a subject for still lifes in Nuenen. He found them while out walking, or paid local boys to collect them for him.

Birds like the wren and the golden oriole constructed ingenious nests, the artistry of which Vincent considered equal to his own.

From the ‘Parisian furnace’ to the peace of southern France

Vincent moved to Paris in February 1886, but after two years of hard work, he grew tired of the city. He went to live in the small town of Arles in the south of France, in search of light and peace.

Cheering

Vincent van Gogh, The Pink Orchard, 1888

Cheering

In April 1888, Van Gogh wrote from Arles to his brother Theo in Paris with an order for canvas and paint:

‘…but for Christ’s sake get the paint to me without delay. The season of orchards in blossom is so short, and you know these subjects are among the ones that cheer everyone up.’

To Theo from Arles, 5 April 1888

A new motif

Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888

A new motif

Arles was a small town, from which a short walk took Van Gogh into vast landscapes:

‘I have a new subject on the go, green and yellow fields as far as the eye can see, which I’ve already drawn twice and am starting again as a painting.’

To Theo from Arles, 12 June 1888

Intense view

Vincent van Gogh, La Crau Seen from Montmajour, 1888

Intense view

Montmajour is a hill close to Arles, which Van Gogh reported visiting more than fifty times. The view it offered was beautiful:

‘The appeal that these vast landscapes have for me is very intense.’

To Theo from Arles, 13 July 1888

Well, I’d like to be able to attain that self-confidence that makes a person happy, cheerful and lively at all times. That can happen much more easily in the country or a small town than in that Parisian furnace.


To Theo from Arles, c. 29 September 1888

Even in the hospital, his eyes were fixed on the countryside

Following his notorious breakdown in Arles, Vincent had himself committed to the Saint-Paul psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He was allowed to paint in the garden.

Circle of life

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with a Reaper, 1889

Circle of life

Vincent painted this wheatfield at Saint-Rémy. A peasant mows the golden stalks in the blazing sun. It was an image for Vincent of the end of life, which would then begin again with the sowing of the grain.

‘Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure...’

To Theo from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 13 May 1889

After reality

Vincent van Gogh, Olive Grove, 1889

After reality

Vincent painted what he observed, rather than from his imagination. He claimed that the Biblical scenes showing 'Christ in the Garden of Olives' by his artist friends Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard had ‘driven me mad’. His own paintings of olive groves were done outside, among the trees themselves.

Garden of the Asylum

Vincent van Gogh, Garden of the Asylum, 1889

But what a beautiful land and what beautiful blue and what a sun. And yet I’ve only seen the garden and what I can make out through the window.


To Theo from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, c. 31 May- 6 June 1889

Reminiscences of Brabant

Vincent painted and drew reminiscences of his native Brabant during his time at the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy. He thought increasingly about returning home.

He finally headed back north in May 1890, but he never saw the Dutch countryside again. His final destination was Auvers-sur-Oise, not far from Paris.

View 'Reminiscences of Brabant'

Vincent van Gogh, Reminiscence of Brabant, 1890

Hybrid forms

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape with Houses and Two Diggers, 1890

Hybrid forms

Vincent blended past and present in this drawing of Dutch-style houses with low beech hedges set in the hilly surroundings of the hospital in Saint-Rémy.

Peace and solace in the fields around Auvers-sur-Oise

Vincent painted several sweeping landscapes in the final months of his life: they were an ode to the countryside, to which he added a deeper emotional charge.

Evening

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape at Twilight, 1890

Evening

‘Finally a night effect – two completely dark pear trees against yellowing sky with wheatfields, and in the violet background the castle encased in the dark greenery.’

To Theo from Auvers-sur-Oise, 24 June 1890

Last painting

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots, 1890

Last painting

These tree roots are Vincent’s very last painting. Undergrowth in a marlpit painted from close by.

Detail of 'Tree roots'

Crows

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890

Crows

This painting was long believed to be Vincent’s last work. A popular myth, but it’s not true.

Storm

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield under Thunderclouds, 1890

Storm

Vincent wrote to Theo and to his sister-in-law Jo about his recently painted wheatfields, through which he wanted to express ‘sadness, extreme loneliness’.

Resting place

Vincent walked out into the wheatfields around Auvers for the last time on 27 July 1890. There, he shot himself in the chest. He died two days later.

Resting place

The graves of Vincent and Theo van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise

No matter what people say; we painters work better in the country, everything there speaks more clearly, everything holds firm, everything explains itself...


To his sister Willemien from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 20 January 1890

Stories