Butterflies | Van Gogh series, 1889-1890

In May 1889, Van Gogh began work on Green Peacock Moth which he self-titled Death's Head Moth.

The moth, called death's head, is a rarely seen nocturnal moth.

He described the large moth's colors "of amazing distinction, black, grey, cloudy white tinged with carmine or vaguely shading off into olive green".

Behind the moth is a background of Lords-and-Ladies.

Vincent van Gogh | Emperor moth, 1889 (detail) | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh | Two peasant women digging in field with snow, 1890

Van Gogh was fascinated with the labour and life of peasants, as expressed in art and literature.

In his paintings and drawings, he prominently featured working men and women.

He believed that to truly capture ‘the heart of the people’, an artist must immerse himself in their world.

He saw labourers as simple, kind-hearted and courageous people, often holding them in higher regard than those he termed "civilized".

Vincent van Gogh | Two peasant women digging in field with snow, 1890 | Kunsthaus Zürich

Vincent van Gogh | Garden with Courting Couples, 1887

Van Gogh called this sunny park scene 'the painting of the garden with lovers'.

Couples in love are strolling under the young chestnut trees and sitting along the winding paths.

Essential Facts:

Title: Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint-Pierre

Date: Paris, May 1887

Artist: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: 75.0 cm x 113.0 cm

Current location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Edmond Bénard | Vincent van Gogh at the age of 34

This group photograph of the INHA fund - Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, represent Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and the Nabis group on February 8, 1888 at the Académie Julian, 48 rue de Faubourg saint Denis, Paris.

Digitized by the library in 2010, published on the Digital Library in 2013 then posted on the Arago portal, this photograph appeared the same year in "Portraits d'ateliers: un album de photographs fin de siècle".

It is part of an album of photographs of artists' studios, purchased in 1958 at the Fabius gallery.

Edmond Bénard | Vincent van Gogh at the Académie Julian, 1888 | Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris (INHA)

Vincent van Gogh | Paintings of peasants

Van Gogh had a particular attachment and sympathy for peasants and other working class people that was fueled in several ways.

He was particularly fond of the peasant genre work of Jean-François Millet and others.

He found the subjects noble and important in the development of modern art.

Van Gogh had seen the changing landscape in the Netherlands as industrialization encroached on once pastoral settings and the livelihoods of the working poor with little opportunity to change vocation.

Vincent van Gogh | Country road in Provence by night, 1890

Symbol of Provence

For Van Gogh, the cypress is the ultimate symbol of Provence.

"The cypresses still preoccupy me", he writes to his brother Theo, "I'd like to do something with them like the canvases of the sunflowers, because it astonishes me that no one has yet done them as I see them.

It's beautiful as regards lines and proportions, like an Egyptian obelisk.

And the green has such a distinguished quality".

Vincent van Gogh | Country road in Provence by night, 1890 | The Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh ad Arles, 1888-89

Il desiderio di conoscere il Mezzogiorno francese, con la sua luce e le sue tinte mediterranee così lontane dal cromatismo nordico, fu una buona occasione per assimilare gli stimoli artistici raccolti a Parigi e per porre fine alla convivenza con Théo, resa più difficile dal carattere irritabile di entrambi.

«Ho intenzione una volta o l'altra, appena posso, di andarmene nel Sud, dove c'è ancora più colore e ancora più sole [...] Quest'estate, quando dipingevo il paesaggio ad Asnières, vi ho visto più colore che in passato».

Il Meridione francese, luogo elettivo di Zola, Cézanne (che vi avevano trascorso l'infanzia) e di Monticelli (che vi era morto), rispose splendidamente alle esigenze di van Gogh, che vi si stabilì nel febbraio del 1888.

Vincent van Gogh | La maison de La Crau (The Old Mill), 1888

Vincent van Gogh | La maison de La Crau (The Old Mill), 1888 | Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Title: La maison de La Crau (The Old Mill);

Author: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, 1853-1890);

Date: 1888;

Dimensions: Support: 64.77 x 53.975 cm; framed: 83.18 x 73.02 x 8.89 cm;

Current location: Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.