Coal Barges Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Vincent van Gogh – Coal Barges
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Painter: Vincent van Gogh
Location: Private Collection
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The painting "Coal Barges" was painted by Van Gogh in August 1888 on the shore near a wharf on the Rhône. The artist loved to depict nature at sunset at the end of a tiring day; he found it particularly beautiful. He was inspired to paint this landscape by a coal-laden barge after a rainstorm. And he even wrote to his brother Theodore about how impressed he was with the rare effect he observed at the Rhone wharf as he looked at the coal barge after a downpour. From the height of the wharf he watched as the barge glistened with moisture and the river incredibly changed its color as the sun set.
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Description of Vincent Willem van Gogh’s painting The Coal Barges
The painting "Coal Barges" was painted by Van Gogh in August 1888 on the shore near a wharf on the Rhône. The artist loved to depict nature at sunset at the end of a tiring day; he found it particularly beautiful. He was inspired to paint this landscape by a coal-laden barge after a rainstorm. And he even wrote to his brother Theodore about how impressed he was with the rare effect he observed at the Rhone wharf as he looked at the coal barge after a downpour.
From the height of the wharf he watched as the barge glistened with moisture and the river incredibly changed its color as the sun set. The water in it became yellow-white and a murky gray-pearly hue, the sky turned purple except for the orange streak of sunset, the city was purple. Across the deck, blue and dirty-white workers were seen unloading the ship.
And Van Gogh recreated this landscape that so impressed him. He painted a yellow-green sky that is punctuated with diagonal pastose strokes of red, lilac and orange. In the background, the skyline depicts the silhouette of a city whose architecture is reflected on the surface of the water. Only some of the buildings have a lilac glow. The river is covered with small waves and displays on its surface all the beauty of heavenly colors at sunset.
The foreground of the canvas depicts coal barges on the Rhone River wharf. Despite the late evening, workers are still at work, unloading coal with carts onto the shore. The barges and people are already submerged in darkness and painted by the artist as silhouettes in dark colors, only one worker can be made out the green shirt.
Van Gogh often painted ordinary working class people working from early morning until late at night.
Today, Van Gogh’s painting Coal Barges is in the private collection of Charlton Mitchell in Annapolis, USA.
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The water itself is depicted with agitated strokes, suggesting movement and reflecting the colors of the sky above. A distant shoreline stretches across the horizon, punctuated by what appears to be a lighthouse or industrial structure, further reinforcing the setting as an area of commerce and industry. The background landscape is simplified into a series of dark shapes, creating depth while maintaining focus on the barges and figures in the foreground.
The color palette is striking. A warm, yellow-orange dominates the sky, contrasted by streaks of pink and red that suggest either sunrise or sunset. This vibrant luminosity casts an unusual glow upon the scene, imbuing it with a sense of both beauty and unease. The use of green within the sky’s coloration introduces an element of discordance, disrupting any conventional depiction of natural light and potentially hinting at industrial pollution or atmospheric distortion.
The paintings subtexts revolve around themes of labor, industry, and the relationship between humanity and nature. The barges, symbols of commerce and transportation, are rendered with a weight that suggests both their importance and potential burden on the environment. The figures, reduced to anonymous laborers, evoke a sense of toil and repetitive work. The unusual color scheme, particularly the presence of green in the sky, might be interpreted as an allegory for the environmental consequences of industrial progress. There is a palpable tension between the beauty of the natural light and the harsh reality of the industrial landscape it illuminates.