Arlésiennes (Mistral)

Notes from the museum

During the winter of 1888, Paul Gauguin spent a troubled two months with Vincent van Gogh in the southern French city of Arles. He painted the enigmatic Arlésiennes (Mistral) during this stay. The painters’ time together was intended to be the beginning of an artist’s colony, but their relationship grew increasingly tense, and Van Gogh’s mental health deteriorated. Set directly across the street from the house they shared, the painting depicts four women somberly processing through a public garden. The space is tilted radically upward, and complex, three-dimensional forms are reduced to simple, flat shapes. For example, twin orange-yellow cones—probably protective hay coverings to shield plants from the frost—tower at the right like abstracted human figures. Wrapped in dark shawls, the two closest women cover their mouths against the frigid air. Their gestures are withdrawn and introspective, and their passage is seemingly blocked by a bright red fence and large green bush. Perhaps the composition’s oddest element is the appearance of a face within the bush. This face—an intentional inclusion by the artist—adds an uncanny, watchful presence to the scene. It exemplifies Gauguin’s exploration of what he believed to be the mysteries that suffuse everyday life.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.

Slow Look

1. The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
2. The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
3. The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
4. One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
5. The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influential practitioner of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms. While only moderately successful during his lifetime, Gauguin has since been recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism.

Painter profile →