The Church at Auvers-Sur-Oise, 1890 - Vincent Van Gogh

The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890 - Vincent Van Gogh

When Van Gogh returned to Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, he immediately began painting the local inhabitants and the surrounding area. As he wrote, '...once back here I set to work again...though the brush almost slipped from my fingers, but knowing exactly what I wanted, I have painted three more big canvases since.* 'They are vast fields of wheat under troubled skies, and I did not need to go out of my way to express sadness and extreme loneliness. I hope you will see them soon? for I hope to bring them to you in Paris as soon as possible, since I almost think that these canvases will tell you what I cannot say in Words, the health and restorative forces that I see in the country.' This canvas of the church at Auvers was painted in the summer months and Van Gogh has painted the sky the deep ultramarine that is so evident in his paintings of the south. The church itself is a solid, towering set of blocks and pyramids with deep shadow in front and sunlit paths and grass in the foreground. A small female figure in country dress walks around towards the front of the church; the view depicted by Van Gogh is of the projecting apse at the east end. The heavy dark lines outlining the architecture help to give this painting strong graphic qualities without compromising the depth and substance of the building.