After developing arthritis, he sought out a milder climate in the South of France, and he was deeply inspired by the natural landscapes of the region. Taking on a looser approach to composition and leaning into the experiential aspect of light and color, works like Paysage du Midi exemplify this late-career transformation.
Our study demonstrates that volatility was a key source of his creativity. We find consistent evidence in the letters that Van Gogh increasingly oscillated between opposite emotional states, such as joy and sadness or between aspirations for belonging and for isolation.
Vincent van Gogh's (November-December 1887) sold for $62.7m at Sotheby's, New York on 20 November, a record price for one of the artist's works painted in Paris. It did considerably better than expected, since the initial pre-sale estimate (without fees) was $40m. The final result almost doubled the previous highest price at auction for a work from the artist's Paris period, the $33.2m paid for Corner of a Garden with Butterflies (May-July 1887), which sold at Christie's last year.
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.