Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Description of Vincent van Gogh’s painting Boats at St. Marie

Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, painted by him in 1888, is now on display in the Amsterdam museum named after the author himself. He depicts all the subjects in a manner uncharacteristic of him, lacking the usual thick strokes that we are accustomed to observe faithfully in Van Gogh’s works.

The canvas before our eyes is done differently, it is full of lightness and weightlessness, every detail is painted in great detail. Only the sand in the foreground and the sea waves on the right could slightly suggest the author’s style. But the overall feel is strikingly different from most of his work. He depicts a quiet pier with boats in the foreground. Every detail is described accurately and in detail.

For the design of the canvas the author has chosen very bright and colorful tones. The painting dazzles with the many colors of the boats on the background of brownish-golden sand and bluish, transparent waves. The bright sky is strewn with numerous snow-white, puffy clouds, and it seems that a strong wind is about to overtake the pier.

The nearby ships are painted quite graphically and brightly. The keel, masts and hull have detailed contours. At the very center at the bottom of the painting you can see a small golden chest gleaming in the bright morning sun. Another yellow chest is in the sand, a little to the left.

The waves keep coming in and seem to grab the nearby boats and carry them out to sea. Somehow there is a sense of liveliness of nature and the very wooden structures created by man.

Although there are no people here, the beach looks absolutely lonely and abandoned, but, at the same time, there is an atmosphere of meaningfulness and independence of all elements. The boats seem to decide for themselves when they set out on a journey full of danger and adventure through the waves of the sea. In the meantime, they are frozen, waiting for a favorable wind.