Seascape Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer by Van Gogh Photo Print

Seascape near Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1888, is a landscape painting of a beach with choppy, breaking waves and boats sailing on the Mediterranean Sea. Painted while the artist was living at Arles in the south of France, the picture reveals Van Gogh’s transition from the lessons of Impressionism that he had absorbed in Paris in previous years, to the effects of his mature, Post-Impressionist style. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and intense, heightened colours. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh’s early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in sombre earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to colour and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.