Vincent Willem van Gogh, Bank of the Oise at Auvers, 1890

Vincent Willem van Gogh, Bank of the Oise at Auvers, 1890

Vincent Willem van Gogh, Bank of the Oise at Auvers, 1890



Vincent Willem van Gogh, Bank of the Oise at Auvers, 1890, Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 36 7/8 in. (73.3 x 93.7 cm.), The Detroit Institute of Arts.


This painting has vibrant colors and quick criss-crossed brush strokes that make the trees prominent. It is one of van Gogh's last paintings and it has been suggested that the person in the bank is van Gogh himself and the black silhouette around him was drawn as he contemplated suicide, that was to come days later.


Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was born in the Netherlands, the son of a Protestant minister. He went on to pursue several unsuccessful careers before moving to Paris in 1886. He spent the last four years of his life studying the Impressionists and Japanese prints and then moving to Arles in 1888 to explore his evolving style. Van Gogh's mind flirted with sanity during this time before he finally shot and killed himself in 1890.