Vincent van Gogh – Landscape at Twilight

Landscape at Twilight is the evening landscape Vincent van Gogh painted in the fields near Auvers-sur-Oise in June 1890: two dark pear trees with tangled branches stand against a glowing yellow sky, a pale path curves through green fields, and in the background a château with a blue roof sits among dark trees. The original measures 50.2 x 101 cm, an unusually wide format, and is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 13 sizes from 60 x 30 to 180 x 90 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

Landscape at Twilight – Vincent van Gogh

What does Landscape at Twilight show?

The painting shows farmland near the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, north-west of Paris, at the end of the day, on a canvas twice as wide as it is high. Two trees dominate it. Left of centre stands a dense, rounded tree, painted in dark green with black outlines. On the right a larger tree with a twisting trunk spreads its branches across the upper half of the canvas, a tangle of short black and dark green strokes that cuts into the sky.

The sky is yellow and ochre, laid on in short, curving dabs, with grey-green streaks higher up and a warm orange glow low down near the horizon. Along the horizon runs a band of dark blue and green trees. In the middle of it stands a long, pale building with a blue roof, the château, and further left a small house with a red roof. In the foreground the fields are painted in long green strokes, a light, pinkish path curves in from the bottom left, and on the right lies a patch of yellow and orange field in short, dense strokes.

Why are the trees so dark against the yellow sky?

Because that contrast is the subject of the painting. The Van Gogh Museum describes how he rendered the tangled black branches of the pear trees with a flurry of black brushstrokes, and notes that this reinforces the contrast between the dark trees and the luminous yellow sky.

Van Gogh described the canvas himself. In a letter to his brother Theo dated 24 June 1890 he listed his new work from Auvers and ended with it: in his words, finally a night effect, two completely dark pear trees against yellowing sky with wheatfields, and in the violet background the castle encased in the dark greenery. You can read the whole letter, with notes that identify this painting, in the Van Gogh Letters edition (letter 891).

What does the painting mean?

Van Gogh did not explain it beyond that short description; what the sources do say concerns the format. According to the Van Gogh Museum, the painting seems somewhat like a panorama because it is one metre wide and only 50 centimetres high. Starting in June 1890, Van Gogh made thirteen works with these dimensions, and all but one of them are landscapes. He cut the canvases himself from a large roll.

In the same letter of 24 June he also mentioned a canvas of wheatfields one metre long by only 50 centimetres high. These wide views of the countryside come from the last weeks of his life: he died in Auvers at the end of July 1890.

Where is the original today?

The original is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which lists it as Landscape at Twilight, Auvers-sur-Oise, June 1890, oil on canvas, 50.2 x 101 cm, under the object number s0107V1962. The museum’s credit line names the Vincent van Gogh Foundation as the owner of the collection.

According to the museum, the painting was with Theo van Gogh in Paris from the second half of June 1890. After Theo’s death in January 1891 it passed to his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son Vincent Willem. In 1952 he gave it to the first Vincent van Gogh Foundation, and in 1962 it passed to the present Vincent van Gogh Foundation. The museum opened in Amsterdam in 1973.

Landscape at Twilight or another landscape from Auvers – which to choose?

Van Gogh spent the last weeks of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, from May to July 1890. Wheat Field with Crows, also painted in Auvers in 1890, is a wide landscape of wheat under a dark sky. Landscape at Auvers in the Rain, from 1890 as well, shows the fields of Auvers under rain. The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise, painted in June 1890, is an upright view of the village church. Choose Landscape at Twilight if you want warm evening light rather than daylight or rain: a yellow sky, dark trees and a calm horizon.

If it is the night sky that draws you, Starry Night over the Rhône, painted in Arles in 1888, shows the sky over the river Rhône at night.

How is our hand-painted Landscape at Twilight made?

The painter first sets out the horizon, the two trees, the château and the path. Then come the yellow sky in short, curving dabs, the dark band of trees, the fields and the path in long strokes, and last the tangled branches in quick black strokes over the sky. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand in oil 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 this painting the relief matters most in the sky, where every dab of yellow sits on the surface, and in the branches of the right-hand tree. A print shows only a flat surface; on our painting the strokes are real.

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: 140 x 70 or 150 x 75 cm above a sofa, 100 x 50 or 120 x 60 cm above a sideboard or a double bed, and 180 x 90 cm for a long, empty wall. The wide format also suits a long hallway, the space above a headboard or a wall above a low bookcase.

There are 13 sizes: 60 x 30, 70 x 35, 80 x 40, 90 x 45, 100 x 50, 101 x 50, 110 x 55, 120 x 60, 130 x 65, 140 x 70, 140 x 71, 150 x 75 and 180 x 90 cm (width x height). The original is 101 cm wide and 50.2 cm high, so our 101 x 50 cm size has practically its dimensions and the painting on your wall is as large as the one in Amsterdam. A 60 x 30 cm size fits above a desk or a narrow shelf. It sits well on a white, cream or light grey wall, and a dark green or deep blue wall brings out the glow of the sky. A painting for the living room should take up 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 furniture and the bottom edge.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 13 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Keep the proportions close to the original, two units wide for every unit high, otherwise the trees and the horizon get squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.

For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows each of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – the application is for choosing the frame only. Seeing the painting on your own wall is our separate room placement service. A gold frame picks up the yellow sky, and a black or dark wood frame repeats the dark trees and makes the light behind them look brighter.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

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

You will find more famous Van Gogh paintings among all our Vincent 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 of Landscape at Twilight today?

In the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, under the object number s0107V1962, as part of the collection of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. It was with Theo van Gogh in Paris from the second half of June 1890, then with his widow Jo van Gogh-Bonger and their son Vincent Willem, who gave it to the first Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1952; in 1962 it passed to the present foundation. It has been in the museum since 1973.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Landscape at Twilight?

In June 1890, in the fields near Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north-west of Paris where he lived from May to July 1890. He described the canvas in a letter to his brother Theo dated 24 June 1890. It is one of the paintings of his last weeks: he died in Auvers at the end of July 1890.

What kind of trees are in Landscape at Twilight?

Pear trees. Van Gogh called them two completely dark pear trees in his letter to Theo, and the Van Gogh Museum also names them as pear trees. In the painting they appear as dark silhouettes against the evening sky: a dense, rounded tree left of centre and a larger one on the right, with a twisting trunk and tangled branches painted in black strokes.

Which castle can you see in Landscape at Twilight?

The château of Auvers. The Van Gogh Museum says the painting gives a view of the local castle, and Van Gogh wrote of the castle encased in the dark greenery. In the painting it is the long, pale building with a blue roof in the middle of the dark band of trees along the horizon, between the two pear trees.

Why is Landscape at Twilight so wide?

Because Van Gogh chose a double-width canvas, one metre wide and only 50 centimetres high. According to the Van Gogh Museum, he made thirteen works with these dimensions from June 1890, all but one of them landscapes, and cut the canvases himself from a large roll. The museum notes that the wide format makes the painting seem somewhat like a panorama.

How big is the original of Landscape at Twilight?

The original is 50.2 cm high and 101 cm wide. Our 101 x 50 cm size has practically the same dimensions, and there are smaller and larger sizes from 60 x 30 up to 180 x 90 cm, as well as custom sizes painted to measure. Above a sofa, 140 x 70 or 150 x 75 cm is a good choice, and 100 x 50 cm suits a sideboard or a hallway.

Does your painting of Landscape at Twilight have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint our copy in impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original. You see it best in the short yellow dabs of the sky and in the black, tangled branches of the right-hand tree, where the relief catches the light and changes as you walk past the painting.

Is Landscape at Twilight a good gift?

It suits someone who is drawn to Van Gogh’s last weeks in Auvers, to the French countryside or to evening light, and it works well above a sofa, a bed or in a long hallway. As a canvas painting in warm yellow and dark green, it brings a calm, glowing colour into a room, and a voucher lets the recipient choose the size.

• Subject: two dark pear trees against a yellow evening sky, with green fields, a pale path and the château of Auvers among dark trees.
• Original: June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, 50.2 x 101 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 13 sizes from 60 x 30 to 180 x 90 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: our 101 x 50 cm size has practically the same dimensions as the original in Amsterdam.