IDENTITY
Letter 619 — Observation & Night Colour
Saintes-Maries, 1888
Content Summary
On 3–4 June 1888 at Saintes-Maries, Van Gogh describes a night scene through cobalt-like blues, greenish, white and pink stars, an ultramarine sea and Prussian-blue bushes.
CONTEXT
Topics
Observation, Night Colour, Cobalt-like blues, greenish/white/pink stars, ultramarine sea, Prussian-blue bushes
Materials & Pigments
White, Cobalt, Ultramarine
Related People
Vincent van Gogh
Paintings
RESEARCH
Quotation
Research Focus
The letter provides exceptional evidence for Van Gogh’s observation of chromatic variety at night, directly challenging the idea of night as simply blue-black darkness.
Related Work / Relevance
Contextual
SOURCES & EVIDENCE
Source Type
Letter
Source
Source Edition
Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, scholarly online edition (Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING)
Source URL
Evidence Type
Primary Source
Related Readings