Seascape at Saintes-Maries Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Description of Vincent Willem van Gogh’s painting "Seascape at Saint Marie"

The painting "Seascape at Saint Marie" was painted by Van Gogh in June 1888 on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea of the fishing village of Saint Marie. The sea inspired the great painter, and during Van Gogh’s Arles period a series of paintings devoted to maritime beauty can be distinguished. Then he wrote a lot of sketches and sketches from life.

Even in a letter to his brother Theodore Vincent wrote about the sea and compared its changeable color palette with the unstable color of the mackerel, because it also continuously changes its color - "then green, then purple, now it seems blue, and a second later already takes on a gray or pink hue.

In the picture "Seascape in Saint-Marie," Van Gogh tried to depict the same color variability of the sea. The artist wove a palette of blue, green and orange colors, the transition of which from one to another, recreate an extraordinary gradation of colors. In each shimmer, you can feel the life, you can hear the sound of the surf. Van Gogh clearly accentuated the waves and the vastness of the sea, merging into a single whole on the horizon with the sky.

He loved the sea and tried with every stroke to convey the realism of his feelings, which caused him the Mediterranean sea every minute uniqueness.

The artist perfectly managed to convey the unsurpassed beauty of the sea and the constancy of its motion.

In the foreground he depicted massive crests of waves, and the main accent in the composition made a small fishing boat, which the wave tilted on one karma. In doing so, he once again emphasized the infinite motion of the sea.

Van Gogh made his signature on the picture with red paint, which is not typical for him. He explained that he wanted to maintain the contrast with the green of the water.

Today, the painting "Seascape at Saint-Marie" is in the Van Gogh Art Museum in Amsterdam.