"Les Alpilles", mountain-landscape at Saint-Rémy

In May 1889 Van Gogh admitted himself, of his own accord, to the asylum of Saint-Paul just outside Saint-Rémy in Provence. From there he could see this low limestone ridge, the Alpilles, running along the horizon, and in 1889 he set it down as a mass of rolling, swirling rock. The brushwork never sits still. The hills seem to heave, the fields below run in currents, and the whole surface moves the way weather moves. He was let out to paint in the country around the institution when he was well enough, and the mountains were among the first things beyond the walls he committed to canvas. The greens and blues here are the colours of Provence in early summer.