Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint-Pierre

This sunny park view is one of the largest canvases Vincent van Gogh ever produced in Paris. Inspired by the dots used by Pointillists, Van Gogh instead employed loose little paint stripes. He applied the paint in different directions and thicknesses, whereby each element—the air, vegetation and the figures—acquires its own particular texture. This helped him to create the effect of a radiant spring day, which fit the sense of intimacy and togetherness he wished to express. Van Gogh himself called this work 'The garden with lovers'.