Road with Cypress and Star

A painting by Vincent van Gogh from 1890

Road with Cypress and Star

Artist| Vincent van Gogh
Year| 1890 (1890)
Catalogue|

* F683
* JH1982

Medium| Oil on canvas
Movement| Post Impressionism
Dimensions| 92 cm × 73 cm (36 in × 29 in)
Location| Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

Road with Cypress and Star (Dutch: Cypres bij sterrennacht), also known as Country Road in Provence by Night, is an 1890 oil-on-canvas painting by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the last painting he made in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.[1] The painting is part of the large van Gogh collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park at Otterlo in the Netherlands.

## Production and influences

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Road with Cypress and Star was painted in May 1890.[2] In an earlier letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote that cypresses were "always occupying [his] thoughts" and that he found them "beautiful of line" and proportioned like an Egyptian obelisk. He had also intended on painting a nighttime view of the trees since his stay in Arles in 1888.[3]

Erickson suggests that the painting is influenced by the Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, visible in the prominent road and cypress tree.[4] The painting is one of several in which van Gogh uses cypresses prominently, and — as in Road with Cypress and Star — many of the paintings depict trees that extend beyond the top of the canvas.[5] After finishing the work, in June 1890 while at Auvers-sur-Oise, van Gogh wrote to his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin that the painting's themes are similar to those of Gauguin's work Christ in the Garden of Olives.[1]

The orientation of the night sky objects may have been influenced by a conjunction of heavenly bodies on 20 April 1890, when Mercury and Venus were at 3 degrees of separation and together had luminescence comparable to Sirius. [6]

## Analysis

[edit]

According to Kathleen Powers Erickson, Road with Cypress and Star more strongly reflects van Gogh's belief that he would soon die than the earlier painting The Starry Night.[2] She supports this by comparing the evening star on the left of the painting, which is barely visible, to the emerging crescent moon on the right side; the cypress tree in the middle, which divides these symbols of the old and the new, is described as an "obelisk of death".[2] She finds the pair of travelers an indication of van Gogh's need for companionship.[2]

Naomi Maurer also writes that Road with Cypress and Star reflects the painter's feeling that he would soon die.[1] She views the painting as depicting human life as being "in the context of infinity and eternity", with the two travelers and their journey dominated by the cypress in the centre.[1] The evening star and crescent moon on either side of the tree she describes as adding "cosmic perspective to the earthly scene" and suggesting a "sentient universe filled with love".[1]

## See also

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* List of works by Vincent van Gogh

## References

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Footnotes

1. ^ a b c d e Maurer 1998, p. 106.
2. ^ a b c d Erickson 1998, p. 176.
3. ^ Welsh-Ovcharov 1987, p. 55.
4. ^ Erickson 1998, p. 160.
5. ^ Erickson 1998, p. 172.
6. ^ Boime 2008, p. 2.

Bibliography

* Boime, Albert (2008). Revelation of Modernism: Responses to Cultural Crises in Fin-de-Siècle Painting. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1780-6.
* Erickson, Kathleen Powers (1998). At Eternity's Gate : The Spiritual Vision of Vincent Van Gogh. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3856-8.
* Maurer, Naomi (1998). The Pursuit of Spiritual Wisdom : The Thought and Art of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. London: Associated University Presses in association with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. ISBN 978-0-8386-3749-4.
* Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila (1987). "Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Albert Aurier: The Perception of Life in Death". In Leith, James (ed.). Symbols in Life and Art: The Royal Society of Canada Symposium in Memory of George Whalley. Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 52–65. ISBN 978-0-7735-0616-9.

* Olson, Donald; Doescher, Russell (October 1988). "Van Gogh, Two Planets, and the Moon". Sky & Telescope. 76 (4): 406–408. Bibcode:1988S&T....76..406O.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Road with Cypress and Star.

* Van Gogh, paintings and drawings: a special loan exhibition, a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on this painting (see index)

* v
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Vincent van Gogh

General|

* Biography
* List of works
* List of drawings
* Chronology
* The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
* Health
* Auberge Ravoux
* Death
* Nazi looting of artworks by Vincent van Gogh
* Posthumous fame
* Cultural depictions
* Lost Arles sketchbook

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
* The Mulberry Tree

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

Watercolours|

* Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle (1881)
* Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg (1882)
* The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague (1882)
* Church Pew with Worshippers (1882)
* Woman on Her Deathbed (1883)
* Landscape with Trees (1883)
* Peatery in Drenthe (1883)
* Landscape with Wheelbarrow (1883)
* Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam (1883)
* Breton Women (1888)
* Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman (1890)

Drawings|

* 87 Hackford Road (1873 or 1874)
* Marsh with Water Lilies (1881)
* Sorrow (1882)
* Portrait of a Man in a Top Hat (1882)
* Torso of Venus and a Landscape (1887)
* Head of a Girl (1888)

Museums|

* Van Gogh Museum
* Van Gogh House (Drenthe)
* Maison Van Gogh
* Kröller-Müller Museum
* Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole
* Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles

Portrayals|

* Vincent van Gogh (1886 painting)
* Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)
* The Painter of Sunflowers (1888 painting)
* Lust for Life (1934 novel)
* Van Gogh (1948 film)
* Lust for Life (1956 film)
* Van Gogh (1956 opera)
* Vincent and Theo van Gogh (1963 statue)
* "Vincent" (1971 song)
* Vincent (1987 film)
* Vincent & Theo (1990 film)
* Vincent and Me (1990 film)
* Dreams (1990 film)
* Vincent (1990 opera)
* Van Gogh (1991 film)
* Vincent in Brixton (2003 play)
* The Yellow House (2007 film)
* "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010 TV episode)
* Loving Vincent (2017 film)
* At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)

Family|

* Theo van Gogh
* Wil van Gogh
* Johanna van Gogh-Bonger
* Andries Bonger
* Theo van Gogh (film director)
* Anton Mauve
* Johannes Stricker

Cataloguers|

* Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 and 1970; "F")
* Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; "JH")

Related|

* The Vincent Award
* Van Gogh immersive experience

* v
* t
* e

John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Literature|

* "The Celestial Railroad"
* The Enchanted Duplicator
* The Life and Death of Mr Badman
* The Land of Far-Beyond

Operas|

* The Pilgrim's Progress

Music|

* Symphony No. 5 (Vaughan Williams)

Films|

* Pilgrim's Progress: Journey to Heaven
* The Pilgrim's Progress (film)

Other|

* Mellor's Gardens
* Road with Cypress and Star
* Houghton House

Related|

* The Third Part of the Pilgrim's Progress
* Little Women
* The Pilgrim's Regress
* Beves of Hamtoun
* Knight of Cups

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