Sunset at Montmajour

Vincent van Gogh

Oil on canvas

Van Gogh Museum

Painted on 4 July 1888 during Van Gogh's celebrated residency in Arles, Sunset at Montmajour depicts a garrigue landscape of twisted oaks, bushes, and wheat fields at dusk, with the ruins of the medieval Montmajour Abbey visible in the distance. Executed in oil on canvas with the expressive, thick brushwork characteristic of Van Gogh's Post-Impressionist style, the composition conveys the luminous intensity of the Provençal countryside that so profoundly shaped his work during this period. Van Gogh, born in the Netherlands in 1853, produced the work at what is widely regarded as the culmination of his artistic achievement, concurrent with iconic canvases such as Sunflowers. Authenticated by the Van Gogh Museum in September 2013 following a rigorous two-year investigation into style, materials, provenance, and the artist's own correspondence, it stands as the first full-sized Van Gogh painting to be newly confirmed since 1928.