Vincent Van Gogh | A Lane near Arles, 1888

A Lane Near Arles (Allee bei Arles) was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1888, while he was living in Arles.

It depicts a lane surrounded by trees running between the fields outside Arles, France.

A Lane Near Arles is currently in the collection of the Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald, in Germany.

Vincent van Gogh settled in Arles in 1888 because he wanted "a different light".

Vincent Van Gogh | A Lane Near Arles, 1888 | Pomeranian State Museum Greifswald, Germany

The period in Arles was the most productive in his life, with top works such as Sunflowers, The Yellow House and Bedroom in Arles.

Van Gogh’s house was unfortunately destroyed in the Second World War.

Van Gogh aimed to capture the essence of each object and the overall scene in his paintings.

In this work Van Gogh depicted the sky turning a bold blue due to the Mistral, a strong wind in southern France, and showed leaves trembling in its gusts.

To those who don't know the Mistral, his brushstrokes might seem like a visionary view of the landscape.

However, he accurately depicts the strong winds of that day.

Vincent van Gogh | Self-portrait, 1888 | Van Gogh Museum

Una corsia vicino ad Arles (Allee bei Arles) è un dipinto di Vincent van Gogh della metà di maggio 1888.

Dal 1999 fa parte della collezione del Pomeranian State Museum Greifswald, in Germania.

Van Gogh arrivò ad Arles da Parigi nel febbraio 1888 per trarre nuova ispirazione per la sua pittura nella calda luce del sud.

Il periodo che trascorre ad Arles è il più produttivo di tutta la sua vita.

Qui dipinge capolavori come I girasoli, La casa gialla e La camera.

L'abitazione di Van Gogh fu distrutta durante la Seconda Guerra mondiale.

Il contrasto tra i colori blu e giallo domina il dipinto ed è tipico dello stile che Van Gogh sviluppò durante il suo periodo ad Arles.

Van Gogh mirava a catturare l'essenza di ogni oggetto e della scena nel suo complesso nei suoi dipinti.

In quest'opera Van Gogh ha raffigurato il cielo che assume un intenso colore azzurro a causa del Maestrale, un forte vento che soffia nella Francia meridionale, e ha mostrato le foglie che tremano sotto le sue raffiche.

Per chi non conosce il Maestrale, le sue pennellate potrebbero sembrare una visione visionaria del paesaggio.

Tuttavia, egli raffigura con precisione i forti venti di quel giorno.

Vincent Van Gogh | Arles View from the Wheat Fields, 1888 | Musée Rodin, Paris

Vincent Van Gogh | Vincent van Gogh's bedroom in Arles, 1889 | Second version | Art Institute of Chicago

Ill from drink and suffering from smoker's cough, in February 1888, Van Gogh sought refuge in Arles.

He seems to have moved with thoughts of founding an art colony.

The Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen was his companion for two months and at first, Arles appeared exotic to Van Gogh.

In a letter, he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésienne going to her First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world".

Vincent Van Gogh | Terrace of a café at night (Place du Forum) | Museo Kröller-Müller, Otterlo

The time in Arles was one of Van Gogh's more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolours.

He was energised by the local countryside and light; his works from this period are rich in yellow, ultramarine and mauve.

They include harvests, wheat fields and general rural landmarks from the area, including The Old Mill (1888), one of seven canvases sent to Pont-Aven on 4 October 1888 in an exchange of works with Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Charles Laval and others.

In March 1888, Van Gogh created landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame" and three of those works were shown at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants.

In April, he was visited by the American artist Dodge MacKnight, who was living nearby at Fontvieille.

Vincent Van Gogh | Still Life with Basket and Six Oranges, 1888

On 1 May 1888, Van Gogh signed a lease for four rooms at 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, which he later painted in The Yellow House.

The rooms cost 15 francs per month, unfurnished; they had been uninhabited for months.

Because the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh moved from the Hôtel Carrel to the Café de la Gare on 7 May 1888.

He had befriended the Yellow House's proprietors, Joseph and Marie Ginoux, and was able to use it as a studio.

Vincent van Gogh | The Yellow House (The Street), 1888 | Van Gogh Museum

Van Gogh wanted a gallery to display his work and started a series of paintings that eventually included Van Gogh's Chair (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1888), The Night Café (1888), Café Terrace at Night (September 1888), Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888), and Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), all intended for the decoration for the Yellow House.

Van Gogh wrote that with The Night Café he tried "to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime".

When he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in June, he gave lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant - Paul-Eugène Milliet - and painted boats on the sea and the village.

MacKnight introduced Van Gogh to Eugène Boch, a Belgian painter who sometimes stayed in Fontvieille, and the two exchanged visits in July.

Vincent Van Gogh | The Red Vineyards near Arles, 1888 | Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Vincent Van Gogh | Starry Night Over the Rhône, 1888 | Musée d'Orsay, Paris