The record dates Cottages to 1883. This catalogue takes Nuenen (1883-85) as the first of the five places that organise van Gogh's ten working years, and 1883 is the hinge year: the painter had not yet settled into the Brabant village work that would occupy the following two years. The catalogue holds nine painted works dated 1883 in all, which makes this one of the thinnest years in the whole arc.
The canvas is 55.5 x 36 cm โ a small upright โ and it is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The measured palette returns yellow as the dominant family. That measurement records which family dominates the surface, not how bright it is, and the yellows of the Dutch years are a different proposition from those of Provence five years later.
The title names cottages, and cottages are the recurring motif of the Dutch years in this catalogue โ thatched roofs, low walls, the housing of agricultural labour. Van Gogh returned to the motif at the very end of his life, and the record shows it: works dated 1890 carry titles like Cottages and Cypresses: Reminiscence of the North. The subject frames the whole decade.
Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [หvษชnsษnt หสษชlษษฑ vษล หษฃษx] ; 30 March 1853 โ 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he c
Dutch painter and draftsman, 1853-1890
Louie Drehmer, Curator, Vincent van Gogh Paintings
Louie curates Vincent van Gogh Paintings, cross-referencing every entry against museum records, Wikidata, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and Wikipedia.
Cottages is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, 1883, held at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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