The painting “Yellow House” by Vincent van Gogh is the abode of light in the work of the master

The Yellow House is a famous painting painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1888. In the center of the composition is a block of yellow-painted residential buildings. In the foreground stands a small two-story mansion. As if flooded with sunlight, it creates a joyful mood at first sight. It seems to the viewer that two-thirds of the surface of the canvas is covered with golden colors. Not only the buildings, but also the pavement, the ditch crossing the square, the street stretching into the distance and the railway bridges on the skyline – everything shimmers in these shades. A locomotive passing over the bridge emits white smoke. And the door, frames and shutters of the mansion itself have a pronounced green color.

Name of the painting: “Yellow House” (Nid. Het gele huis).
Author: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
Year of creation: 1888
Size: 72 x 91.5 cm.
Style: Post-impressionism.
Genre: Landscape. Urban landscape.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: Vincent Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Vincent van Gogh is an outstanding Dutch painter of the second half of the 19th century.

Being an individualist and a hermit, he did not recognize compromises and did not submit to authorities, left the church, moved away from academicism and the impressionists close to him in spirit. His work, characterized by bold colors, impulsive and expressive strokes, became the forerunners of expressionism. And creativity, born in endless search and loneliness, received recognition only after the death of the artist.

The prehistory of the creation of the painting “The Yellow House” is associated with Van Gogh’s move at the end of February 1888 from Paris to Arles, a small town in the province of Provence in southern France. Vincent was amazed by the beauty of the nature of these places and the snowy winter landscape that met him.

In May, Vincent rented a small and rather dilapidated mansion on Place Lamartine.

Making repairs and furnishing the premises with simple and cheap furniture, the master dreamed of a commune, a refuge for fellow artists, where they could not only stay, but also create for the benefit of art. On the first floor, he arranged a workshop, on the second – a guest room and his own bedroom.

As conceived by the artist, the yellow house was supposed to be conducive to creation, so the master decided to decorate the walls with many paintings. To realize the idea, he tirelessly, overcoming bouts of deteriorating health, got out to the open air, painted flowering gardens, fields, bridges and sunflowers from nature.

Almost all the works of the artist of that period are united by a coloristic idea with a predominance of yellow, interconnected in style and size, filled with the warmth of the southern region.

The only artist who visited Van Gogh’s yellow house was Paul Gauguin. Joint work was short-lived and lasted only two months. After a spontaneous quarrel, the guest left without saying goodbye, and the great master ended up in a hospital for the mentally ill.

The painting “The Yellow House” by Van Gogh became a picturesque embodiment of the master’s abode, in which he created his best works. The building itself has not survived to this day. During the Second World War, it was badly damaged by bombing and was soon destroyed.