Saintes-Maries (Van Gogh series)

At the time of Van Gogh's visit, Saintes-Maries was a small fishing village with 800 residents. Van Gogh likely stayed at the Pension Coulomb, a short walk from the beach. Van Gogh intended to use his trip to recover from health problems and make some seaside paintings and drawings. The painter described the town in a letter to his brother Theo. He wrote, "The beach here is sandy, no cliffs or rocks—like Holland—without the dunes and with more blue." In the same letter, he commented on the town's good seafood as well as the town's demographics and geography, writing, "I don’t believe there are 100 houses in this village or town. The main building after the old church, an ancient fortress, is the barracks." == Paintings of the sea ==

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer One painting Van Gogh worked on while in the village was Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (F413). He described the painting in a letter to Theo: "I made the drawing of the boats when I left very early in the morning, and I am now working on a painting based on it, a size 30 canvas with more sea and sky on the right. It was before the boats hastened out; I had watched them every morning, but as they leave very early I didn't have time to paint them." Some of the work on the painting was finished in the studio, such as capturing the light in the sand, sea and sky. Seascape at Saintes-Maries (Fishing Boats at Sea) In Seascape at Saintes-Maries (Fishing Boats at Sea) (F417), the combination of a high horizon and boats close to the top of the frame draw the audience in to the choppy sea in the foreground and center of the picture. Van Gogh also made three drawings of this composition. File:Van Gogh - Fischerboote bei Saintes-Maries.jpeg|The Sea at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F415) File:Vincent van Gogh - Fishing Boats at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.jpg|Fishing Boats at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Pen and ink and pencil, June 1888, St. Louis Museum of Art (F1433) File:Van Gogh - Fischerboote bei Saintes-Maries1.jpeg|Seascape at Saintes-Maries (Fishing Boats at Sea), 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia (F417) File:Van Gogh - Fischerboote am Strand von Saintes-Maries.jpeg|Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries, Reed pen, 1888, Private collection (F1428) File:GUGG Boats at Saintes-Maries.jpg|Boats at Saintes-Maries, Reed pen and ink over graphite on wove paper, Late July-early August 1888, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum File:Vincent van Gogh - Boats at Saintes-Marie watercolour.jpg|Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries, watercolor, 1888, Hermitage Museum, private collection (F1429) ==Paintings of the town==

In the painting View of Saintes-Maries (F416), Van Gogh painted rows of what is likely lavender spanning from the painting's foreground to the town of Saintes-Maries in the center of the frame. This use of perspective serves to draw the viewer into the painting. A wall encloses the town, with a large church serving the painting's focal point. The painting takes on a three-dimensional appearance, starting with relief-like layers of blue paint in the sky. Van Gogh used finer brushstrokes on the field and town buildings. ==See also==