Terrasse dans le jardin du Luxembourg

Van Gogh arrived in Paris in early 1886 still painting in the brown, earthbound colours of his Dutch years. Within months everything changed. His brother Theo, a dealer, put him in front of Monet and Pissarro, and the dark palette fell away. This small view of the Luxembourg Gardens, with strollers under the trees, is him trying out the new language, dabbing little strokes of clear colour to catch the light coming through spring leaves. He had not yet reached the blazing yellows of the south. Here he is still learning to lighten up, in a public park a short walk from Theo's apartment.