View from Theo's Apartment

Vincent van Gogh

Oil on canvas

Van Gogh Museum

Painted in Paris between March and April 1887, this oil on canvas depicts the sweeping rooftop panorama of the city as seen from the apartment van Gogh shared with his brother Theo on Rue Lepic, Montmartre. Van Gogh employed a notably hybrid technique: portions of the canvas are rendered in the stippled dotwork of Pointillism, which he was absorbing from contact with the Neo-Impressionists in Paris, while other areas are handled with the loose, spontaneous brushwork more characteristic of his own developing style. The painting reflects a pivotal transitional moment in van Gogh's career, as he moved away from the somber palette of his Dutch period and began experimenting with color, light, and the avant-garde currents flourishing in the French capital. Now held in the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the work offers an intimate record of both the artist's urban surroundings and his evolving technical ambitions.