IDENTITY

Letter 822 — Method & Expressive Colour

Saint-Rémy, 1889

Content Summary

On 26 November 1889 at Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh critiques aspects of Bernard and Gauguin while contrasting pure colour and abstraction with his own commitment to working from life.

The Garden of the Asylum — Vincent van Gogh

CONTEXT

Topics

Method, Expressive Colour, Abstraction, Working from life, Bernard, Gauguin

Materials & Pigments

Method, Expressive Colour, Abstraction, Working from life, Bernard, Gauguin, Palette, Explicit mixture

Related People

Vincent van Gogh, Delacroix, Corot, Millet, Giotto

Paintings

RESEARCH

Quotation

Research Focus

The letter helps define Van Gogh’s position within contemporary debates about abstraction and expressive colour, showing that his departures from naturalism remained grounded in sustained observation.

Related Work / Relevance

SOURCES & EVIDENCE

Source Type

Letter

Source

Letter 822 (old 824)

Source Edition

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

Source URL

https://vangoghletters.org/en/let822

Evidence Type

Primary Source, Scholarly Annotation