Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Barques de pêche aux Saintes-Maries), 1888 by Vincent van Gogh

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1888, depicts colorful wooden fishing vessels drawn up on the sand of the small Mediterranean village where he spent a week that June. Rendered with bold outlines and the vivid, sun-drenched palette he discovered upon reaching the coast, the boats’ red, green, and blue hulls stand out against pale sand beneath a luminous sky streaked with distant sails. The painting belongs to his brief but pivotal Saintes-Maries excursion during the Arles period, when the intensity of Mediterranean light reshaped his approach to color.

Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). Date: 1888.

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Barques de pêche aux Saintes-Maries), 1888 by Vincent van Gogh. Coastal Post-Impressionist Wall Art Canvas Print.

A note on this reproduction: this print renders in a softer, more washed-out palette, with a hazy, grayish-white sky and muted colors overall. A more vivid, saturated reproduction of this same painting is also available in our collection.