View of Vessenots Near Auvers by Vincent Van Gogh Postcard

View of Vessenots Near Auvers by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1890, is a landscape painting of trees and fields of green grass and yellow flowers stretching towards rural French houses and rolling hills beneath the sunny blue sky of the south of France. With thickly applied, swirling strokes of oil colors, Van Gogh both sculpts the lively landscape and leads the eye through the composition, as thick daubs of impasto paint depict blooming yellow flowers and the movements of white clouds. Van Gogh painted a number of such landscapes of the French countryside in the final years of his life. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and intense, heightened colors. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh’s early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in somber earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to color and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.