IDENTITY

Letter 663 — Expressive Colour

Arles, 1888

Content Summary

On 18 August 1888 at Arles, Van Gogh discusses the deliberate use of expressive colour rather than restricting painting to literal local colour.

Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier) — Vincent van Gogh

CONTEXT

Topics

Expressive Colour, Non-literal expressive colour

Materials & Pigments

Related People

Vincent van Gogh, Delacroix

Paintings

RESEARCH

Quotation

Research Focus

The letter documents Van Gogh’s willingness to depart from naturalistic colour in order to intensify expression, a principle central to his mature colour practice.

Related Work / Relevance

SOURCES & EVIDENCE

Source Type

Letter

Source

Letter 663

Source Edition

Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, scholarly online edition (Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING)

Source URL

https://vangoghletters.org/en/let663

Evidence Type

Primary Source, Scholarly Annotation