Landscape with the Chateau of Auvers at Sunset

Landscape with the Chateau of Auvers at Sunset Nederland Vincent van Gogh Gallery and Appreciation

In May, 1890 Vincent van Gogh moved from Saint-Rémy in the south of France to Auvers-sur-Oise, just north of Paris. It was here that he would begin the final, and most prolific, phase of his career.

Van Gogh's style would evolve and mature throughout his ten years as an artist. In Auvers-sur-Oise one of the most interesting and unique adaptations was his use of the "double-square" canvas measuring roughly 50 by 100 centimeters. In Letter 644 (24 or 25 June 1890) Van Gogh first wrote about adopting the double-square format:

Then I have a canvas 40 inches long and only 20 inches high, of wheat fields . . . .

Throughout June of 1890 Van Gogh would continue to work, although not exclusively, using the double-square format. Again, in Letter 644 Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about Landscape with the Chateau of Auvers at Sunset:

Lastly, an evening effect--two pear trees quite black against a yellowing sky, with some wheat, and in the violet background the château surrounded by somber greenery.

As shown below, all of Van Gogh's double-square paintings are bold and vibrant and Landscape with the Chateau of Auvers at Sunset is especially so with its striking yellow sky. Ronald Pickvance mentions the effect of the sunset in the work and notes that, unlike his Arles and Saint-Rémy periods, Van Gogh never once depicted the sun itself in his final Auvers-sur-Oise period.

The Chateau of Auvers dates from the seventeenth century and this is the only Van Gogh painting in which it appears.

Other Double-Square Paintings

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