Farmhouse in Provence — Vincent van Gogh, Arles 1888, Postcard

In the summer of 1888 Van Gogh was painting the Provençal countryside at its most direct: the thatched farmhouse here is as much an argument about colour as it is a record of a building. The blue walls against the straw roof, the landscape behind — everything pressed toward clarity. The original is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. A postcard from the height of his Arles ambition, ready for a letter or a small framed display. From the Vincent van Gogh collection.