Railway cars by Vincent Van Gogh

In Arles, Van Gogh constantly draws in the open air, imprinting various landscape motifs. It attracts nature – wide expanses of fields, village houses, city gardens and avenues. But sometimes in the field of the artist’s attention there are also such unusual motives, for example, in this picture. In a severe industrial landscape, he sees a kind of poetics and beauty, and these feelings are reflected on the canvas.

The composition of the picture is quite simple: the artist depicts the railroad cars standing in a row. The horizon is heavily overpriced, which makes the image heavy and monumental. The cars limit the foreseeable space, and most of the picture is taken up by a massive foreground, intersected by a wide path.

Coloring the picture is based on a combination of contrasting colors. Van Gogh makes the sky almost green to highlight and strengthen the brick-red color of the wagons. This sharp combination goes to the fore. Van Gogh traces the path with a red outline, and she writes her various strokes in color – from cold lilac to yellow and red, with reflexes of a greenish sky. The whole picture is built on contrasts, which makes it seem a bit heavy and sharp, but this manner suits the character of the depicted motif.