Ansicht von Auvers

Van Gogh painted this in the last weeks of his life. In May 1890 he left the asylum in the south of France and settled in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris, to be near a doctor who watched over him and closer to his brother Theo. He worked at a furious pace there, finishing dozens of canvases in about two months. This is the village seen across its gardens and fields, the roofs laid down in short vertical strokes, the foreground plants rounded and loose. Look at the sky: it is barely begun, just a few quick streaks of blue sketching the clouds, the bare canvas still showing through. He died that July, and the picture was never carried any further.