Vincent van Gogh – Fishing Boats at Sea

Fishing Boats at Sea is the seascape Vincent van Gogh painted in June 1888 at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean: two fishing boats with pale yellow sails heel over in a choppy green and blue sea, while more sails line the horizon. The original measures 54.5 x 44.5 cm and belongs to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 11 sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.

Fishing Boats at Sea – Vincent van Gogh

What does Fishing Boats at Sea show?

Fishing Boats at Sea shows open water off the coast of the Camargue, with no land in sight. In the upper left two fishing boats sail close together, their large triangular sails painted in pale yellow and cream, outlined in red-brown. Their dark hulls are trimmed in red and green, and a small figure sits in the nearer boat. A third sail rises behind them at the left edge of the canvas.

Along the horizon, a row of small white and yellow sails leads the eye into the distance under a grey-blue sky with low clouds. Everything below the boats is sea: wave after wave in short, curved strokes of blue, green and yellow, broken by white crests. In the lower right corner Van Gogh signed the canvas Vincent in red.

Why did Van Gogh put the boats so high on the canvas?

To give the sea the whole stage. The encyclopaedia entry on his Saintes-Maries paintings notes that the high horizon and the boats placed close to the top of the frame draw the viewer into the choppy water in the foreground and the centre. About three quarters of the canvas is waves, so the boats feel small against the sea that carries them.

The water moves in every direction, the light catches on the crests in yellow and white, and the boats lean into the wind. Van Gogh also made three drawings of this composition.

What did the sea at Saintes-Maries mean to Van Gogh?

In June 1888, while living in Arles, Van Gogh took a week-long trip to the fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, partly to recover his health and partly to find new subjects. To his brother Theo he wrote that the beach was sandy, with no cliffs or rocks, like Holland but without the dunes and with more blue.

He was struck above all by the colour of the water. In his words the Mediterranean has the colour of mackerel: changeable, so you do not always know whether it is green or purple, or blue, because a moment later the shifting reflection has turned pink or grey. Weeks after the trip he used boats as an image for painters themselves, writing that they were sailing on the high seas in small and wretched boats, isolated on the great waves of time.

Where is the original, and why are there two seascapes?

The original belongs to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The museum lists it as The Sea at Saintes-Maries, oil on canvas, 54.5 x 44.5 cm, and presents it in its online project on the great Moscow collections of the Morozov and Shchukin families.

Van Gogh painted a second seascape on the same trip, which hangs in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and is easily confused with this one. That canvas is larger, shows one sailing boat in the middle distance and has its red signature in the lower left. Ours is the Moscow painting, with the two boats in the upper left. You can compare both, with the drawings from the trip, on the Wikipedia page on the Saintes-Maries series.

Fishing Boats at Sea or another Van Gogh from 1888 – which should you choose?

On the same trip Van Gogh also painted Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, with colourful hulls drawn up on the sand. Back in Arles in September 1888 he painted the river at night in Starry Night over the Rhône and the lit café of Café Terrace at Night, and, also in 1888, The Yellow House, the house where he lived and worked.

Choose Fishing Boats at Sea for movement, wind and fresh blue-green colour; choose the beach painting for a calm, decorative scene with bright boats; and choose Starry Night over the Rhône if you want the blue of the night instead of the day.

How is our hand-painted Fishing Boats at Sea made?

The painter first sets the horizon high on the canvas and draws the two boats and their sails, checking the angles against the original so that the boats lean into the wind. Then come the sky, the distant sails and the sea itself, built up wave by wave in short curved strokes of blue, green, yellow and white. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light on every crest.

The first photograph shows our finished painting, unframed, from the front on an easel in our workshop. The second photograph shows the same canvas from the left at an angle, so you see how the waves stand out in relief. The third photograph shows it from the right side, next to our frames. The fourth photograph is a close-up of the waves, where the thick white and yellow paint rises from the canvas.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 55 x 45 or 60 x 50 cm above a chest of drawers, a desk or in a hallway, 80 x 66 or 90 x 70 cm above a bed or a sideboard, and 120 x 100 or 150 x 120 cm above a sofa or on a large empty wall.

There are 11 sizes: 50 x 40, 53 x 44, 55 x 45, 60 x 50, 70 x 56, 70 x 59, 70 x 60, 80 x 66, 90 x 70, 120 x 100 and 150 x 120 cm (width x height). The original is 54.5 cm wide and 44.5 cm high; our 55 x 45 cm size is the closest to it, so the painting on your wall is almost exactly as large as in Moscow. The blues and greens of the sea suit a white, grey or sand-coloured wall. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, leaving 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 11 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Keep the proportions close to the original, otherwise the sea and the boats get squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.

Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A white or light wooden frame keeps the seascape fresh, and a narrow gold frame picks up the yellow sails.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve, and we correct anything that is not right. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Van Gogh paintings, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a present and are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Fishing Boats at Sea by Van Gogh today?

In the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The museum lists it as The Sea at Saintes-Maries, oil on canvas, 54.5 x 44.5 cm, and shows it in its online project on the Moscow collections of the Morozov and Shchukin families. In the Van Gogh literature it is known as Seascape at Saintes-Maries, or Fishing Boats at Sea, catalogue number F417.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Fishing Boats at Sea?

In June 1888, at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a fishing village on the Mediterranean coast of the Camargue in the south of France. Van Gogh was living in Arles and spent about a week in the village, to recover his health and find new subjects. He stayed at the Pension Coulomb near the beach and painted the sea and the boats.

Is Fishing Boats at Sea the same painting as the seascape in the Van Gogh Museum?

No. Van Gogh painted two seascapes on the same trip. The one in Amsterdam is larger, shows one sailing boat in the middle distance and carries its red signature in the lower left. Fishing Boats at Sea is the Moscow painting: two boats with pale yellow sails in the upper left, a row of sails on the horizon and the signature in the lower right.

Why are the boats so high up in Fishing Boats at Sea?

Because the sea is the real subject. The high horizon and the boats placed close to the top of the frame draw the viewer into the choppy water in the foreground and the centre, as the encyclopaedia entry on the Saintes-Maries paintings notes. About three quarters of the surface is waves, which makes the boats feel small against the sea.

What did Van Gogh write about the sea when he painted Fishing Boats at Sea?

He wrote that the Mediterranean has the colour of mackerel: changeable, so you do not always know whether it is green or purple, or blue, because a moment later the reflection has turned pink or grey. You see that changing colour in the waves of this canvas, where blue, green, yellow and white strokes sit side by side.

Did Van Gogh make drawings of Fishing Boats at Sea?

Yes. According to the encyclopaedia entry on his Saintes-Maries works, Van Gogh made three drawings of this composition. During the same week by the sea he also drew and painted the boats on the beach and the village itself, so the composition exists in more than one medium.

How big is the original Fishing Boats at Sea?

The original is 44.5 cm high and 54.5 cm wide, a modest landscape format. Our 55 x 45 cm size is practically the same as the painting in Moscow. If you want more presence on the wall, there are larger sizes up to 150 x 120 cm, and smaller and in-between sizes from 50 x 40 cm, as well as custom sizes.

Is Fishing Boats at Sea a good painting to give as a gift?

Yes, it is a fresh, lively gift for anyone who loves the sea, sails or holidays on the Mediterranean, and it suits a seaside house, a bedroom or a study. As a hand-painted canvas painting it is a lasting present rather than a print. If you are unsure about the size, a voucher lets the recipient choose it.

Does your Fishing Boats at Sea have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, building up each brushstroke in thick oil, so the surface is raised like Van Gogh’s original. You see this best on the white crests of the waves and on the sails, where the relief catches the light, as the fourth photograph shows. A print cannot have this relief, because its surface is flat.

• Subject: two fishing boats with pale yellow sails on a choppy green and blue Mediterranean, more sails on the horizon.
• Original: June 1888, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 54.5 x 44.5 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 11 sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm or made to measure.