Two Little Girls 1890

Vincent van Gogh made "Two Little Girls" with oil on canvas, though its exact date remains a mystery. Van Gogh was a Dutchman working in France, where the pressures of industrial capitalism created new visions of childhood. Here, these daughters of the working class are presented to us through an interesting lens, where notions of youth and innocence are seen through the harsher realities of class and societal expectations. He uses bold colors and flattened forms, which show the influence of Japanese prints, a popular art form at the time. We see the artist's focus on conveying emotion through the use of bright colors and expressive brushstrokes, departing from the established standards of academic art. How does this comment on the social structures of his time? As historians, we might consult letters, archives, and period documents to better understand van Gogh's world. It’s through this lens that we can start to understand what art might have meant in its own moment.