Les Alyscamps

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

F569
JH1623

MediumOil on canvasDimensions92 cm × 73.5 cm (36 in × 28.9 in)LocationPrivate collection

Les Alyscamps (F568)

Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Year	1888
Catalogue	F568 JH1622
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	92 cm × 73.5 cm (36 in × 28.9 in)
Location	Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece

Les Alyscamps (or 'L'Allée des Alyscamps') is a pair of paintings ("pendants") by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in 1888 in Arles, France, it depicts autumnal scenes in the Alyscamps, an ancient Roman necropolis in Arles which is lined with poplars and stone sarcophagi.

Van Gogh also made another pair of paintings, Falling Autumn Leaves and Paul Gauguin made his own version of Les Alycamps.

Auction

One of the paintings was auctioned in November 2003, selling for $11,767,500 at an auction in New York despite predictions that it might fetch between $12 and $18 million.^[1] The painting was sold again on May 5, 2015, for the sum of $66.3 million.^[2]^[3]

Les Alyscamps

Following months of correspondence, Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh in Arles in October 1888. Both were intent on depicting a "non-naturalist landscape". The paintings are of the first works that Van Gogh and Gauguin painted following Gauguin's arrival.^[4]

Van Gogh and Gauguin visited an ancient Roman necropolis, "Les Alyscamps", which had been built by the Romans outside city walls. Over time the grounds were overtaken by factories and the railroad, leaving the Allee des Tombeaux, (the avenue of tombs), a lane of shady poplar trees that led to a Romanesque chapel.^[5] This lane was known throughout France as a lovers' lane (the women of Arles celebrated for their beauty). The couples depicted in the painting are taking a romantic stroll in the evening and it was this aspect of the scene that especially attracted the artists' attention.^[3]

The two artists painted some identical subjects to compare their work with each other and chose the site of the Alyscamps to paint and compare. They produced several works, including this painting, Van Gogh's Falling Autumn Leaves (Les Alyscamps) and Gauguin's Alyscamps.

The paintings

The pair of paintings were made by Van Gogh and Gauguin soon after Gauguin arrived in Arles. The painting portrays an ancient Roman cemetery, "Les Alyscamps" or "Elysian Fields" which were located south east of the Roman city walls. Through careful analysis it appears that the two men worked together at Les Alyscamps between October 28 and 31, just before an onslaught of heavy rains that forced them indoors. Van Gogh painted four views, this Les Alyscamps pair and the pair of Falling Autumn Leaves paintings. Gauguin produced two paintings.^[6]

Van Gogh's other Les Alyscamps paintings

Van Gogh made another pair of paintings at Les Alyscamps called Falling Autumn Leaves.

Falling Autumn Leaves
1888
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (F486)
Falling Autumn Leaves
1888
Private collection (F487)

Gauguin's paintings

For his painting of Les Alyscamps, painted on the same day as Van Gogh's, Gauguin chose a different vantage point from Van Gogh, and excluded any reference to ancient sarcophagi.^[4]

Paul Gauguin, Les Alyscamps
1888
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Paul Gauguin, Allée des Alyscamps
1888
Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo

References

^ "Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), L'allée des Alyscamps". Sold paintings. Christie's. 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-08' Sale 1299, lot 25{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ "Vincent van Gogh Painting Sells for $66.3 Million". Sold paintings. WABC Eyewitness News. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
^ ^a ^b "L'Allée des Alyscamps". sothebys.com. Sotheby's.
^ ^a ^b "Les Alyscamps". Collections, artist Paul Gauguin, Les Alyscamps. Musee d'Orsay. 2006. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
^ Gayford, M (2006). The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles. Penguin. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-670-91497-5.
^ "Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), L'allée des Alyscamps, Lot details". Sold paintings. Christie's. 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-08' See "lot notes" information{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

Vincent van Gogh

General

Groups of
works

Early works (1881–82)
Portraits (1881–1890)
Peasant Character Studies (1881–1885)
Van Gogh's family in his art (1881–1888)
Sien (1882–83)
Cottages (1883–1885)
Water Mill at Gennep (1884)
Still life paintings, Netherlands (1884–85)
Old Church Tower at Nuenen (1884–85)
Amsterdam (1885)
Wheat Fields (1885–1890)
Le Moulin de la Galette (1886)
Still life paintings, Paris (1886–87)
Montmartre (1886–87)
Self portraits (1886–1889)
Outskirts of Paris (1887)
Asnières (1887)
Seine (1887)
Japonaiserie (1887)
Sunflowers (1887–1889)
Trees and Undergrowth (1887–1890)
Copies by Vincent van Gogh (1887–1890)
Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888)
Saintes-Maries (1888)
Boats du Rhône (1888)
Décoration for the Yellow House (1888)
The Roulin Family (1888–89)
Hospital in Arles (1888–89)
Flowering Orchards (1888–89)
Almond Blossoms (1888–1890)
Paintings of Children (1888–1890)
The Wheat Field (1889)
Reaper (1889)
Olive Trees (1889)
Wheat Fields (1889)
Butterflies (1889–90)
Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (1889–90)
Auvers size 30 canvases (1890)
Auvers Double-squares and Squares (1890)
Lost works by Vincent van Gogh
Display at Les XX, 1890

Oil paintings

1882	Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather Girl in White in the Woods Lying Cow A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background
1883	Cows in the Meadow Farmhouses Among Trees Bulb Fields Landscape with a Church at Twilight Landscape with Dunes Footbridge across a Ditch Marshy Landscape A Wind-Beaten Tree Farm with Stacks of Peat Farmhouses in Loosduinen near The Hague at Twilight Three Figures near a Canal with Windmill
1884	Two Rats Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen Landscape with Pollard Willows Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox Lane in Autumn Water Mill at Opwetten Water Mill at Kollen Village at Sunset Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Avenue of Poplars at Sunset Head of an Old Farmer's Wife in a White Hat
1885	Still Life with Straw Hat The Potato Eaters Peasant Woman Digging Peasant Woman Digging Up Potatoes Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette
1886	Vase with Red Poppies Vase with White and Red Carnations The Kingfisher
1887	Poppy Flowers Wheat Field with a Lark View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic Portrait of Père Tanguy A Woman Walking in a Garden Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Red Cabbages and Garlic
1888	Madame Roulin and Her Baby Landscape with Snow La Mousmé The Zouave Still Life: Vase with Oleanders The Night Café The Yellow House Van Gogh's Chair Café Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhône Portrait of the Artist's Mother Bedroom in Arles The Painter on the Road to Tarascon Les Alyscamps A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles Falling Autumn Leaves L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) Les Arènes Interior of a Restaurant in Arles A Lane near Arles Arles: View from the Wheat Fields Sunset at Montmajour Farmhouse in Provence Orchard with Cypresses
1889	Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Portrait of Doctor Rey Crab on its Back Two Crabs Irises Lilac Bush The Starry Night The Gardener Self-portrait (1889) Self-portrait without beard Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul A Road at Saint-Remy with Female Figure Enclosed Field with Peasant Rain Cypresses Wheat Field with Cypresses Green Wheat Field with Cypress The Diggers The Ravine of the Peyroulets Ivy View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint-Rémy The Large Plane Trees
1890	The Siesta Road with Cypress and Star At Eternity's Gate Thatched Cottages and Houses Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers Houses at Auvers White House at Night Landscape with a Carriage and a Train Girl in White The Church at Auvers Daubigny's Garden Farms near Auvers The Cows The Town Hall at Auvers Blossoming Chestnut Branches Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses Portrait of Adeline Ravoux Plain near Auvers Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds Wheatfield with Crows Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) Tree Roots Landscape at Auvers in the Rain Poppy Field