A Pair of Leather Clogs
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Autumn 1889
oil on canvas,
32.2 cm x 40.5 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh repeatedly took shoes as his subject. He painted these wooden-soled leather clogs in the southern French town of Saint-Rémy. He was being treated for his psychiatric problems in a clinic and for a short period was reluctant to go outside. He continued to paint, however, as soon as he felt well enough. It was at this time that he painted these clogs.
The clogs are shown in close-up, on a rather unnaturally tilted surface. Van Gogh had employed this unusual way of handling perspective before. The meticulous pattern of small stripes also occurs in pictures painted two years previously.