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History: how it was made
Van Gogh made a brief trip to the Mediterranean fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in June 1888, his first sight of the sea. He spent a week there, painting and drawing obsessively. He made several paintings of the fishing boats on the beach, struck by their intense colors against the brilliant Mediterranean light. He described the sea as having colors like mackerel: changing, you do not always know if it is green or violet, you cannot even say it is blue, because the next moment the reflection is pink or orange. The fishing boats paintings capture this quality of constantly changing color under intense light.
What makes this painting extraordinary
The boats are painted in strong, contrasting colors, each one distinct: one green and red, one blue and yellow, one orange. Against the pale sand and the vivid blue of the sea and sky, the color relationships are bold and direct. Van Gogh used the boats as a way to practice the kind of high-keyed color contrast he was developing throughout his Arles period. The handling is confident and rapid. The boats are clearly observed from specific angles and the spatial relationships between them on the beach are carefully managed. The sea in the upper portion of the canvas is painted in horizontal strokes of blue, green, and white that suggest both the flatness of the Mediterranean in calm weather and the constant movement of light on water.
Hand-painted oil on canvas
Own Vincent van Gogh’s Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries as a genuine painting
Painted by hand using oil on canvas. The brushwork and texture are real, not simulated by ink.
Oil on canvas, same materials as the original
Painted by hand, not printed
Multiple sizes available
What does Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries mean?
The fishing boats paintings represent Van Gogh's encounter with the Mediterranean and with the kind of strong southern light he had imagined when he came to Arles. They are among his most straightforwardly celebratory works, paintings made by a man who was delighted by what he was seeing and confident in his ability to paint it.