Main article: Vincent van Gogh

The Décoration for the Yellow House was the main project Vincent van Gogh focused in Arles, from August 1888 till his breakdown the day before Christmas. This Décoration had no pre-defined form or size, the central idea of the Décoration grew step by step, with the progress of his work. Starting with the Sunflowers, portraits were included in the next step. Finally, mid-September 1888, the idea got shape: From this time he concentrated on size 30 canvases (Toiles de 30), which were all meant to form part of this Décoration.^[1]

First idea: The Sunflowers, August 1888

Vase with three sunflowers (Arles, August 1888) Private collection.

Vase with five sunflowers (Arles, August 1888) Private collection, destroyed by fire in World War II on 6 August 1945. [1]

Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (Arles, August 1888) Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (Arles, August 1888) National Gallery, London.

Second step: The Portraits, September - October 1888

Joseph Roulin (The Postmaster) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Patience Escalier (The Old Peasant) Private collection

Eugène Boch (The Poet) Musée d'Orsay

Paul-Eugène Milliet (The Lover) Kröller-Müller Museum

Third step and definite solution: The Toiles de 30-Décoration, October - December 1888

The Night Café (September 1888) Yale	The Yellow House (September 1888) Van Gogh Museum	Starry Night Over the Rhone (September 1888) Musée d'Orsay, Paris	Public Garden Kröller-Müller Museum
Public garden Phillips Collection	Garden of the Poet III (October 1888) Private collection.	Railway Bridge (October 1888) Private collection.	Trinquetaille Bridge (October 1888) Private collection.
Bedroom in Arles (October 1888) Van Gogh Museum	Les Alyscamps (October 1888) Private collection.	The Red Vineyard (November 1888)	Vincent's Chair (November 1888)
Gauguin's Armchair (November 1888) Van Gogh Museum	In the Library (November 1888)	Souvenir du jardin (November 1888)	Les Arènes (December 1888)
L'Arlésienne (November 1888)	La Berceuse (December 1888) Kröller-Müller Museum

• For a related project by Van Gogh executed at the same time, see The Roulin Family

Epilogue: The Toiles de 30, January - April 1889

Repetitions

Vase with twelve flowers (Arles, January 1889). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.	Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (Arles, January, 1889). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.	Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (Arles, January 1889). Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo.	La Berceuse Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
L'Arlésienne Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Spring Subjects

View of Arles, Flowering Orchards, spring 1889. Neue Pinakothek

Continuation

Even later, in Saint-Rémy as well as in Auvers, size 30 canvases form the body of Van Gogh's work, and even more: he continued conceiving series and groups of work based on this size . See The Wheat Field, the Copies after Millet, and others and the Display at Les XX 1890, all from Saint-Rèmy, and the Auvers size 30 canvases.

Resources

Notes

1. ^ This fact, widely neglected for decades, recently seems to have become common knowledge; see Zemel, Schneede.

References

• Dorn, Roland: Décoration: Vincent van Gogh's Werkreihe für das Gelbe Haus in Arles, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zürich & New York 1990 ISBN 3-487-09098-8 / ISSN 0175-9558

v • d • e Vincent van Gogh General Biography · Chronology · Medical condition · Posthumous fame · Cultural depictions · List of works · Post-Impressionism · Family Theo van Gogh Friends Anthon van Rappard · Paul Gachet · Paul Gauguin · Émile Bernard · John Peter Russell Groups of works Self-Portraits · Portraits · Flowering Orchards · The Décoration for the Yellow House · The Roulin Family · The Wheat Field · Copies after Millet, and others · Display at Les XX, 1890 · Auvers size 30 canvases · Auvers Double-squares and Squares Paintings The Potato Eaters · Sunflowers · The Night Café · The Yellow House · Cafe Terrace at Night · Starry Night Over the Rhone · The Bedroom · The Red Vineyard · Ivy · The Starry Night · At Eternity's Gate · Irises · Portrait of Dr. Gachet · The Church at Auvers · Wheat Field with Crows · Daubigny's Garden · Thatched Cottages by a Hill Other works Drawings and water-colours · Prints Public collections Van Gogh Museum · Kröller-Müller Museum · Musée d'Orsay Wikimedia  van Gogh at Wiktionary  ·  van Gogh at Wikibooks  ·  van Gogh at Wikiquote  ·  van Gogh at Wikisource  ·  van Gogh at Commons  ·  van Gogh at Wikinews