stevedores in arles

When Vincent van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888 in search of the bright atmosphere of southern France, he did not use the pointilist and Impressionist styles of painting , but prefer blended forms and brighter colors. This stylistic change is clearly shown in The Stevedores of Arles, where the painter uses heavy, extended brushstrokes and a pronounced color contrast. The painting shows a view of the Rhone and a dazzling sunset, and the subject of the composition, clearly influenced by Japanese art, stands out against the light. In early August 1888, Vincent wrote from Arles to his brother Theo: “Tonight I saw a magnificent and peculiar effect. On the Rhone there was a large ship laden with coal, moored at the quay. Above. From above, everything drenched in the showers gleamed; the water was yellow-white and the pearly grey of the clouds; the sky was lavender with an orange stripe to the west. Some on board were dressed in dirty blue Poor white-clad workers come and go, bringing goods to shore. This is pure Hokusai style.”

The impression made on the painter by the sight prompted him to depict it in three paintings soon. The first , Boats with Sand, depicts two moored boats viewed from a very sloping, high perspective, as if filmed from a high pier, from which some people were unloaded Sand, not coal. Later, perhaps at the end of August, he painted two similar paintings of sunsets: “The Coal Barge” and “The Loaders of Arles.” The high viewpoint of the first painting is replaced by a composition that is closer to the ground, and the perspective of the second painting is replaced by a more frontal one. This new focus allowed him to paint an expansive orange-yellow atmosphere in which the boats and buildings across the river stood out against the light. It is no coincidence that the darkness of night is likened to the blackness of coal unloaded from a ship. Van Gogh was not content with appearances, but worked hard to find meaning, using colors to express certain emotions.

We would like to thank the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid for sharing with us today’s work.

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Side note: This truly magnificent painting is not one of Van Gogh’s masterpieces; here you can see seven amazing paintings you’d never guess were Van Gogh’s!