Arles Van Gogh was 35 when he made the Langlois Bridge paintings and drawings. Living in
Arles, in
southern France, he was at the height of his career, producing some of his best work:
sunflowers,
fields, farmhouses and people of the Arles,
Nîmes and
Avignon areas. It was a prolific time for van Gogh: in less than 15 months he made about 100 drawings, produced more than 200 paintings and wrote more than 200 letters. The
canals,
drawbridges,
windmills,
thatched cottages and expansive fields of the Arles countryside reminded van Gogh of his life in the
Netherlands. Arles brought him the solace and bright sun that he sought for himself and conditions to explore painting with more vivid colors, intense color contrasts and varied brushstrokes. He also returned to the roots of his artistic training from the
Netherlands, most notably with the use of a
reed pen for his drawings.
Langlois Bridge The Langlois Bridge was one of the crossings over the Arles to
Bouc canal. The double-beam drawbridge was built in the first half of the 19th century to expand the network of canals to the
Mediterranean Sea.
Locks and bridges were built, too, to manage water and road traffic. Just outside Arles, the first bridge was the officially titled "Pont de Réginel" but better known by the keeper's name as "Pont de Langlois". In 1930, the original drawbridge was replaced by a reinforced concrete structure which, in 1944, was blown up by the retreating Germans who destroyed all the other bridges along the canal except for the one at
Fos-sur-Mer, a port on the
Mediterranean Sea. The Fos Bridge was dismantled in 1959 with a view to relocating it on the site of the Langlois Bridge but as a result of structural difficulties, it was finally reassembled at Montcalde Lock several kilometers away from the original site. According to letters to his brother
Theo, van Gogh began a study of women washing clothes near the Langlois Bridge about mid-March 1888 This was the first of several versions he painted of the Langlois Bridge that crossed the Arles canal.
Perspective frame In Arles van Gogh began using again a
perspective frame he had built in
The Hague. The device was used for outdoor sightings to compare the proportion of items that were near to those that were in the distance. Some of the works of the Langlois Bridge were made with the aid of the frame. Its use "deepened his exploration of the drawbridge as a mechanism."
Japanese influence The Langlois Bridge reminded van Gogh of
Hiroshige's print
Sudden Shower on the Great Bridge. Inspired by the
Japanese wood block prints, van Gogh sought to integrate techniques from Japanese artwork into his own. In a letter to
Émile Bernard about the Langlois Bridge, he wrote: "If the Japanese are not making any progress in their own country, still it cannot be doubted that their art is being continued in France." With a Japanese aesthetic, van Gogh's Langlois Bridge paintings reflect a simplified use of color to create a harmonious and unified image. Outlines were used to suggest movement. He used fewer shades of colors, preferring multiple subtle color variations. The Langlois Bridge reminded van Gogh of
Hiroshige's
Sudden Shower on the Great Bridge inspiring him to use blocks of colors, like patterns of yellow against a blue sky, colors chosen to create a sense of vitality These approaches created a more powerful impact and depicted the simpler, primitive quality of the country lifestyle. ==Three paintings with similar compositions==