One of Van Gogh’s first watercolors was Coalmine in the Borinage, completed sometime between July-August of 1879. In January of 1879, Van Gogh had taken a temporary post as a missionary lay preacher in Petit Wasmes and Cuesmes, villages in the coal mining district of Borinage, Belgium. Van Gogh was completely committed to helping the…
From 1881 to November of 1885 Van Gogh lived in the Netherlands. It was during this time that he had a humanitarian outlook on life and spent a good deal of his time painting peasants and workers. He had an attachment and sympathy for the working class and found the subjects noble, simple and honest. …
Oiran (The Courtesan) Painted in the summer and autumn of 1887, Oiran, also known as The Courtesan, is an image of a Japanese woman copied by Van Gogh from a print by Keisai Eisen which was on the cover of the May 1886 Paris Illustré, a magazine that featured an article about Japan. Van Gogh’s…
