I love to discover new Van Goghs!  I recently discovered three new delicious paintings at the St. Louis Art Museum  to add to my collection of favorites.

 

Factories in Clichy 1887 SLAM
Factories in Clichy (1887)

 

Van Gogh used pointillism, a new style of painting introduced by Seurat,  in Factories at Clichy(1887).  He divided this canvas into three horizontal bands:  fields, factories, and sky.  Notice the tiny figures in the center.  Perhaps they are lovers. They stand in an agricultural field and stare into the future of industry.  Van Gogh, unfortunately, would end his life three short years after painting this representation with neither love nor the future.

 

Van Gogh Vineyards at Auvers 1890
Vineyards at Auvers (1880)

Van Gogh painted this just before he ended his life. He loved painting flowers- sunflowers and irises were his favorites- and unlike the pointillism used in  previous painting, these flowers are painted with thick brush strokes and vibrant colors which is more to his style.  There is also a reflection of his interest in Japanese art in this painting as there is a diagonal division in the canvas.

Van Gogh, Still Life 1887 StLMA
Still Life, Basket of Apples (1887)

The third Van Gogh I discovered at the museum is titled Still Life, Basket of Apples (1887). This is my favorite.  I need a framed print of this to hang in my den as these are my exact colors!  Notice that the red outlines of the apples complement their green texture while the blue-violet shadows offset the dominant golden-yellow colors of the background.  Also notice that Van Gogh signed this painting, a rarity, but used his first name in the left corner.

The St Louis Musem of Art also has quite a collection of Impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, Seurat and several paintings by Picasso and Chagall, which have piqued my interest in Post-Impressionism and Cubism!