When you think of Vincent van Gogh, you might think of vibrant, vivid colours. But that hasn’t always been the case. When you compare Vincent van Gogh’s first paintings with his later masterpieces, you can see how the colours change from dark to light, from mud tones to strong colour contrasts. This is the story of Van Gogh's search for his own colour palette.
Reading time: c. 5 minutes
Vincent received his first painting lessons from the artist Anton Mauve in The Hague, who was known for his use of grey and blue tones.
At the time, most artists in the Netherlands liked to work ‘tonally’, which greatly influenced Vincent. Surrounded by such works, he naturally adopted this approach in his own early paintings.
Anton Mauve, Homeward Bound, 1881
Mauve masterfully captured the atmosphere of this landscape in shades of grey. He usually painted in harmonious grey tones, like many artists of The Hague School – also known as the ‘Grey School’.
Vincent van Gogh, Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs, 1881
create still lifes in oil paint. This gave him the opportunity to develop a sense of colour. He was very pleased with this, as up until then, he had focused almost entirely on drawing – a typical starting point for aspiring artists. This painting marked his first attempt, serving primarily as an exercise in colour, texture, and brushwork.
Vincent van Gogh, Bobbin Winder, 1885
Tonal painting focused on the subtle interplay of light and dark shades within a single colour. In this simple still life – of a device for winding yarn – Van Gogh explored variations of a deep blue-green hue. By applying lighter tones of the same colour, he emphasised the areas touched by light.
Vincent was eager to learn more about the workings of colours. He studied various books on colour theory and discovered that complementary colours – red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange – reinforce each other.
Vincent now understood the theoretical principles of these colour pairs. However, the illustrations in his handbooks were predominantly in black and white. How was he to apply these colour principles?
‘Colour expresses something in itself. One can’t do without it; one must make use of it. What looks beautiful, really beautiful – is also right.’
Vincent to his brother Theo, 28 October 1885
Vincent van Gogh had read a book by Charles Blanc about the use of colour by French painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863). Delacroix is considered one of the most renowned painters of the Romantic period. He used contrasting colours to enhance the drama and evoke a particular emotion or mood, a concept that was especially appealing to Vincent.
Eugène Delacroix, 1842
Colour wheel, Charles Blanc, 1867.
In Charles Blanc’s colour circle, the primary colours are arranged with their mixed colours in between. The complementary colours – positioned directly opposite each other – provide maximum colour contrast. When placed next to each other, they appear more visually powerful than when isolated.
Vincent started out by using complementary colours, but he soon found himself mixing them into ‘mud tones’. At first glance, his paintings still displayed the same ashy and earthy tones as those of his Dutch colleagues.
Meanwhile, his brother Theo wrote enthusiastically from Paris about the light effects, the loose brushstrokes, and the vibrant colours of the Impressionists. However, it was impossible to fully grasp this new French movement from the Netherlands. Only when Vincent saw these modern paintings with his own eyes a few years later did his colours begin to change.
Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
The painting The Potato Eaters was a balanced exercise in colour for Vincent. He gave the faces ‘something like the colour of a really dusty potato, unpeeled of course’.
By using the same colours for the farmers as for the potatoes, he aimed to convey the harsh reality of farm life.
Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Woman, 1885
For Head of a Woman, Vincent primarily used the colour pair red and green. Rather than placing them in bright, almost unmixed hues next to each other, he mixed them. As a result, the colour contrast is less intense.
Shortly after arriving in Paris, Vincent observed a ceiling painting by Eugène Delacroix at the Louvre. He was struck by the colour contrasts. For instance, purple is placed next to yellow, orange next to green. Vincent realised how he could use colour in a modern way: virtually unmixed and loosely placed next to each other. It was an eye-opener – he finally understood how bright colours influence each other!
Eugène Delacroix, detail of Apollo slaying Python, ceiling painting in the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre, 1850 Photo (C) Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Olivier Ouadah
Vincent was also inspired by the lightness of the canvases, the loose brushstrokes, and the vivid colours of the Impressionists. In this early Impressionist work, Pissarro sought to ‘capture’ a fleeting moment of the day. He focused on the effects of light and colour. Notice the loose, multi-coloured brushstrokes and the long blue shadows, which suggest that the sun is low on the horizon.
Camille Pissarro, Route de Versailles, Rocquencourt, 1871
The modern art in Paris inspired Vincent to paint with lighter, brighter, and looser strokes – just like the Impressionists. He was also captivated by the ‘Pointillists’, who painted with colourful dots.
Vincent became interested in Pointillism after seeing the work of Georges Seurat at an exhibition in 1886. That year, Seurat gained recognition for his almost scientific painting technique. He placed unmixed colours next to each other in loose dots. When viewed from a distance (or through your eyelashes), the dots still form a unified whole. In the painting of the Seine below, the dots are even more loosely applied. Later, Seurat made his dots more precise.
Like Seurat, Vincent also painted along the banks of the Seine. He applied the Pointillistic brushstroke in his own way: long lines for the water, small dots for the trees and bushes, and broad strokes for the sky.
Georges Seurat, The Seine at Courbevoie, 1884
Vincent van Gogh, Bank of the Seine, 1887
Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint-Pierre is one of Vincent’s most ‘Pointillist’ paintings. It was the first work he exhibited in Paris.
He adapted the new painting technique to his own style, alternating dots with lines. Over time, Van Gogh likely found the precise dotting too rigid and time-consuming.
Vincent van Gogh, Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint-Pierre, 1887
Vincent conducted one colour study after another. Which colour combinations produce the strongest effect? How many variations exist within a single colour? Colour had become an obsession for Vincent.
He experimented with colour combinations using coloured threads before applying the costly paint. He kept his balls of wool in this chest.
In Paris, Vincent transformed into a modern artist. He felt this metamorphosis intensely. This is why he portrayed himself as a painter in a self-portrait. He used vibrant, vivid colours to convey that these were the colours of a modern artist. He proudly signed the painting in orange-red.
To his sister Willemien, he wrote: ‘That there are colours that make each other shine, that make a couple, complete each other like man and wife.’ (20 June 1888)
Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1887-1888
For Vincent, an understanding of colour theory was essential in painting. He also realised that a painter should not attempt to reproduce the exact colour he saw before him. That was merely ‘the reflection of reality in the mirror’, not art. ‘The effects colours produce through their harmonies or discords should be boldly exaggerated’ to convey a feeling.
Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888. Yale University Art Gallery
The Night Café in Arles was, in Vincent’s eyes, a harsh place, a hangout for the poor or the drunk. That’s why he chose clashing reds, greens, and yellows – of oil lamp light and gas light, of harmony and discord.
Vincent van Gogh, Garden of the Asylum, 1889
This painting depicts the garden of the institution in Saint-Rémy, where Vincent stayed for a year. To his friend Bernard, he wrote the following about this painting: ‘You’ll understand that this combination of red ochre, of green saddened with grey, of black lines that define the outlines, this gives rise a little to the feeling of anxiety from which some of my companions in misfortune often suffer, and which is called “seeing red”.’
Use the slider to compare the two images.
The painting Gauguin's Chair serves as a kind of ‘portrait’ of Vincent's artist friend Paul Gauguin. The modern novels and the lit candle symbolise his character. Using red and green tones, Vincent aimed to capture a nocturnal atmosphere. (Vincent van Gogh, Gauguin's Chair, 1888, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)).
As a counterpart, Vincent also painted a daytime effect: his own simple peasant chair, in bright yellow and blue. The two paintings symbolise the contrasting characters of the two artists. (Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh's Chair, 1888, The National Gallery, London)
Vincent hoped to contribute to the modernisation of art with his colourful work. After his time in Paris, he continued to use vibrant colour contrasts. In the South of France, he created the many paintings for which he became famous, such as the vase of blue irises against a yellow background. Van Gogh described this floral still life as ‘an effect of terribly disparate complementaries that reinforce each other by their opposition.’
A year earlier (in 1888), Vincent predicted that the painter of the future would be a colourist ‘such as there hasn’t been before’. He did not yet know that he himself would become that painter.
Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890
