The Outskirts of Paris

Van Gogh had been in Paris for about half a year when he made this, in the autumn of 1886. Since June he had shared a flat with his brother Theo on the rue Lepic, high on the hill of Montmartre, and open ground at the city's edge was a short walk away. What he set down is a dirt road under a wide grey sky, with a single gas lamp standing in it. A lone man in dark clothes waits near the lamp, a couple walks away on the right, and two birds cross the clouds. Low on the horizon runs a line of buildings with a small windmill among them. The picture belongs to a private collection, and in 2022 it was lent to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California for an exhibition pairing Van Gogh with the artists he admired.