Van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village some thirty kilometres northwest of Paris, on 20 May 1890. The painter soon became fascinated by his new surroundings and recorded the landscape in a large number of sketches and paintings. This small study in oils shows part of the village that sprawled along the banks of the Oise. The composition consists of four different layers: the field in the foreground, rendered in broad, vigorous brushstrokes; the geometrical string of coloured roofs in the middle; a strip of thickly applied, bright green meadows behind; and the almost translucent white sky with a few streaks of blue for the clouds. The varied application of the paint is noteworthy; at several points between the houses the structure of the bare canvas can even be seen.