Houses at Auvers 

Vincent van Gogh painted 'Houses at Auvers' during the final months of his life, a period marked by intense artistic productivity amidst personal turmoil. His move to Auvers was an attempt to find solace under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet, yet Van Gogh remained deeply troubled. In this painting, we see houses set against a turbulent sky. The buildings are humble, the colors are muted, yet the brushstrokes are charged with an emotional intensity. Van Gogh’s choice to depict the ordinary homes of Auvers can be seen as a reflection on the lives of the working class, a demographic he often sympathized with and sought to represent in his art. It is also a reflection on the alienation that he experienced at the time. Van Gogh once wrote of his desire to capture "something of the heart" in his landscapes. In this particular painting, you can sense the emotional weight Van Gogh carried, transforming an ordinary scene into an expression of his inner state.