Courting Couples in the Voyer d'Argenson Park in Asni?res, 1887
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Oil on Canvas, 75 X 112.5cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
(Vincent van Gogh Stichting)
F 314

This summery garden – which Van Gogh later referred to as SÀthe painting of the garden with the sweetheartà – is one of the largest canvases he painted. It is also the first work he exhibited in Paris. He painted the park in the Pointillist style that kept him so occupied during the summer of 1887. This technique, in which small dots of unmixed color are placed close together, has been applied fairly consistently here. Carefully crafted in the studio, this painting lacks the spontaneity of much of his other work. The Artist’s brushstrokes are nonetheless expressive. The sky, for instance, is rendered with vigorous dashes of paint.