Fishing Boats at Saintes-Maries by Van Gogh: Boats Like Flowers

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Five days at the Mediterranean

At the beginning of June 1888, Van Gogh took the coach from Arles to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a fishing village on the coast of the Camargue. It was his first sight of the Mediterranean, and he stayed for about five days.

He wrote to Theo from the village, describing small green, red and blue boats so pretty in shape and colour that they made him think of flowers. He also said the sea changed colour like a mackerel, so that you could never be sure whether it was green, violet or blue.

The boats left early each morning, so he drew them on the beach and painted this canvas back in Arles from those drawings. It now belongs to the Van Gogh Museum.

Boats painted like coloured flowers

Red, white and blue fishing boat on the sand with painted circles on the prow — Flat colour inside dark outlines, like a Japanese print.

Four boats lie on the sand, pulled up close together. The nearest is deep red with a white and blue band, and its prow carries painted circles that look almost like an eye. Behind it, the others are green, blue and orange.

Van Gogh outlined each hull in dark paint and filled it with flat, bright colour. That method came partly from his study of Japanese prints, which he hoped to find echoed in the light of the south. The boats read as clear, decorative shapes against the pale beach.

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Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries hand-painted oil reproduction

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries, painted by hand

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One boat is called Friendship

Blue boat with the word AMITIE painted in white on its hull — Amitié: the boat is named Friendship.

On the side of the blue boat, Van Gogh painted the name Amitié, French for friendship, in white capitals on the hull. It is a small detail that is easy to miss.

It is tempting to connect the word with Van Gogh’s hopes that summer of sharing a studio with other artists in the south. That is an interpretation. What is certain is that he chose to include a readable name, which makes the boat feel like a particular vessel owned by real people.

Masts and yards draw lines across the sky

Yellow, green and blue masts and yards crossing a pale sky with a seagull — Masts and yards draw diagonal lines across the sky.

Above the hulls, masts and long yards cross the sky at different angles: yellow, green, blue and brown. They create a network of diagonal lines that breaks up the calm, pale background.

The sky itself is painted in thin, light strokes of grey, green and white. Compared with the thick paint on the boats, it is almost transparent. A single seagull flies at the left.

Other boats are already out at sea

Four sailing boats with white sails on a calm blue-green sea — Other boats are already out at sea.

At the right, four sailing boats are on the water, their white sails leaning in the wind. They are smaller and painted more loosely, which pushes them into the distance. The beached boats wait; these are already working.

The wet sand and shallow water at the right are made with long horizontal strokes and touches of white for foam. The contrast between the solid boats on shore and the light, moving sea gives the painting much of its life.

Questions about Fishing Boats on the Beach

Where was this painted?

Van Gogh drew the boats on the beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in early June 1888, then painted the canvas in Arles from his drawings.

Where is the original?

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).

What is written on the boat?

Amitié, the French word for friendship.

How large is it?

About 65 × 81.5 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

Faithful public-domain reproduction of Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (1888), via Wikimedia Commons (Google Art Project). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.