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.

F-number
F0275
JH-number
JH1278
Object number
s0098V1962
Dimensions
33.0 cm x 42.0 cm, 47.9 cm x 57.0 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, at the beginning of May 1887; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren, to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 10 July 1962 (ratified 28 December 1970); agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
artist
Vincent van Gogh
Credits (obliged to state)
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

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