View of Auvers 1890

Vincent van Gogh painted this view of Auvers, likely in 1890, using oil paint on canvas. The material qualities of the paint itself are very expressive. Look at the thick impasto, applied with visible brushstrokes. These aren't just representations of the landscape; they are emphatically material gestures. Think about the labor involved in creating such a textured surface. The repetitive, almost obsessive marks convey a sense of Van Gogh's intense engagement with the scene, but also perhaps his own state of mind. Oil paint, of course, was by this time a readily available, industrially produced material. Van Gogh benefitted from these advances, which allowed artists to focus on personal expression like this. Yet there's also a connection here to older traditions of craft, in the way the paint is built up layer by layer, like a potter building up clay. Considering the material and the making helps us understand the painting's full meaning, challenging any divide between high art and the everyday world.