Bridge in the rain (after Hiroshige) (Vincent van Gogh) : Van Gogh Museum : Art Project, powered by Google

Bridge in the rain (after Hiroshige)

Brug in de regen: naar Hiroshige

1887

Vincent van Gogh, 1880-1890

Oil on canvas
Height : 73.00 cm
Width : 54.00 cm

Located in: Paris Room

Viewing Notes

Compared with the colours in the original woodcut by Japanese artist Hiroshige, which was the inspiration for this work, the colours of van Gogh's 'The bridge in the rain' are somewhat muted. He reproduced the falling rain by using long vertical touches in dark blue applied with a fine brush. Van Gogh decorated the brightly-coloured frame with Oriental characters that he based on to two different prints by other artists.

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Artwork History

1890-91 T. van Gogh
1891-1925 J.G. van Gogh-Bonger
1925-62 V.W. van Gogh
1962 Vincent van Gogh Foundation
1962-73 on loan to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1973 on permanent loan to the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Tags

School: Post-impressionism Theme: Riverscape

Artist Information

Vincent van Gogh

Born
Zundert, The Netherlands
Died
Auvers-sur-Oise, France

Active Period: 1880-1890

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853. At the age of sixteen he became the youngest employee of Goupil & Co, and worked in their art galleries in The Hague, London and Paris. When an obsession with religion caused him to neglect his work, Goupil had no choice but to let him go. In 1879 he found work as an evangelist in the Borinage, the mining district of Belgium, but his temporary appointment was not made permanent.

Young artist

In 1880 van Gogh decided to become an artist. He moved to Brussels and tried to study independently. In late 1881 he took painting lessons from Anton Mauve, a leading member of the Hague School and his cousin by marriage. Mauve introduced him to watercolor and oil technique. In September 1883 van Gogh traveled to Drenthe. He painted the bleak landscape and peasant workers, but lonely and lacking materials, he soon left for Nuenen to live with his parents. On March 26, 1885, his father died suddenly. Shortly afterward, van Gogh completed The potato eaters, his first large-scale composition and first masterpiece. In late 1885 he went to Antwerp and a few months later to Paris, where he moved in with Theo. He met the city's modern artists, including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard and Camille Pissarro. His palette became brighter and his brushwork more broken.

Gauguin

Worn down by his activities in Paris, van Gogh moved to the south of France in February 1888. He rented a studio in Arles and invited Gauguin to join him. In anticipation of his arrival, van Gogh painted still lifes of sunflowers to decorate Gauguin's room. Inspired by the bright colors and strong light of Provence, he executed painting after painting. Gauguin did arrive in Arles in October 1888. For nine weeks he and van Gogh worked together. Personal tensions grew between the two men. In December van Gogh experienced a psychotic episode and cut off a piece of his own left ear. He was admitted to a hospital in Arles and remained there through January of 1889.

Illness

After his discharge from the hospital, he was unable to organize his life or set up a new studio. In May 1889 he voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy. Despite his illness, he produced one masterpiece after another, such as Irises and The Starry Night. In May 1890 van Gogh left the hospital for Auvers-sur-Oise. He placed himself in the care of doctor Paul Gachet. It was here that he became fully aware of the waning of his artistic power. On 27 July 1890 he shot himself in the chest and died two days later, with Theo at his side. Van Gogh was buried in Auvers the next day. His paintings were left to Theo. His work would ultimately have a profound influence on groundbreaking artists of the twentieth century.

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More Works by this Artist

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More Works in this Museum

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Artwork Name	Artist Name
Along the Seine	van Gogh, Vincent
Basket of pansies on a small table	van Gogh, Vincent
Bridge in the rain (after Hiroshige)	van Gogh, Vincent
Café table with absinth	van Gogh, Vincent
Farmhouse in a wheat field	van Gogh, Vincent
Field with flowers near Arles	van Gogh, Vincent
Fishing boats on the beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer	van Gogh, Vincent
Flowering plum tree (after Hiroshige)	van Gogh, Vincent
Garden in Montmarte with lovers	van Gogh, Vincent
Gauguin's chair	van Gogh, Vincent
In the café: Agostina Segatori in Le tambourin	van Gogh, Vincent
La Berceuse (Portrait of Madame Roulin)	van Gogh, Vincent
Montmartre: behind the Moulin de la Galette	van Gogh, Vincent
Montmartre: mills and vegetable gardens	van Gogh, Vincent
Orchards in blossom, view of Arles	van Gogh, Vincent
Ploughed fields ('The furrows')	van Gogh, Vincent
Quinces, lemons, pears and grapes	van Gogh, Vincent
Seascape near Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer	van Gogh, Vincent
Self-portrait	van Gogh, Vincent
Small pear tree in blossom	van Gogh, Vincent
Sunflowers	van Gogh, Vincent
The Langlois bridge	van Gogh, Vincent
The bedroom	van Gogh, Vincent
The harvest	van Gogh, Vincent
The hill of Montmartre with stone quarry	van Gogh, Vincent
The pink orchard	van Gogh, Vincent
The pink peach tree	van Gogh, Vincent
The white orchard	van Gogh, Vincent
Three books	van Gogh, Vincent
Vase with gladioli and China asters	van Gogh, Vincent

Bridge in the rain (after Hiroshige), Vincent van Gogh