"Tarascon Stagecoach, which was painted in Arles, depicts a horse-drawn coach in the yard of the Auberge de la Poste, in the boulevard that surrounds the city's ramparts. This was where the coach would regularly set off for Tarascon, a town 15km to the north. Van Gogh had visited Tarascon at least once, a few months before he painted the work, likely on the same vehicle he depicted or a similar one."
"On 13 October 1888 Vincent sketched the painting in a letter to his brother Theo. He described its colours: "Simple foreground of grey sand. Background very simple too, pink and yellow walls with windows with green louvred shutters, corner of blue sky. The two carriages very colourful: green, red, wheels yellow, black, blue, orange." The pink pigment of the wall has now faded to almost white."
"Vincent confided in his brother that he was exhausted: "I'm knocked out from painting this Tarascon diligence [coach], and I can see that I haven't a head fit for drawing. I'm off to have supper." That month Van Gogh was reading a book by one of his favourite French writers, Alphonse Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon (1872). This satirical novel, mocking the inhabitants of Tarascon, includes a chapter in which an old stagecoach 'speaks' of its hard life."
The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation is donating 63 works to three major American museums, led by Van Gogh's Tarascon Stagecoach. Tarascon Stagecoach was painted in Arles and shows a horse-drawn coach in the yard of the Auberge de la Poste, the coach route to Tarascon about 15 km north. The painting will be presented at LACMA from 22 February to 5 July 2026, travel to the Brooklyn Museum in autumn 2026, and arrive at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2027. Van Gogh sketched the composition on 13 October 1888 and described its vivid colours; the pink wall pigment has since faded. Van Gogh reported exhaustion after painting the work and was reading Alphonse Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon, a satirical novel that includes a speaking stagecoach.
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