Autumn Landscape — Vincent van Gogh, 1885, Postcard

Painted in Nuenen in autumn 1885 — van Gogh's final Dutch months before Paris — this Autumn Landscape blazes with warm orange foliage over a flat field and open sky. The heavy, expressive brushwork belongs to the Dutch period he was soon to leave behind; the Paris light, the Impressionists, and the palette of Arles all lay ahead. The postcard brings that vivid seasonal energy into a hand-held format: an autumn note, a small framed print, or a van Gogh chronology on a shelf. From the Vincent van Gogh collection.