The Decoration for the Yellow House - click to enlarge
The Yellow House is a painting by Vincent van Gogh painted in September 1888 in oil on canvas, and having the dimensions of 72cm × 91.5 cm. Today, it can be seen in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The title Yellow House (French: Maison Jaune; Dutch: Huis Het gele) refers to the house Van Gogh lived in at that time, more precisely the right wing of 2, Lamartin Square (Place Lamartine) in Arles, France.
The title Yellow House (French: Maison Jaune; Dutch: Huis Het gele) refers to the house Van Gogh lived in at that time, more precisely the right wing of 2, Lamartin Square (Place Lamartine) in Arles, France.
Initially, van Gogh called the Yellow House just „the House and its environment” (French: La Maison et son entourage) and renamed it later to „The Street (French: La Rue)”. Today, it is just known as the Yellow House.
However, the first titles given by van Gogh, tell a lot about the painting’s significance and the artists intention: As Vincent explained in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh, he considered the theme a rather hard one. This was because the house appeared yellow in the sun, while the ground was yellow itself. Becoming more private he stated, that the house on the left, in the shadow of a tree is the restaurant where van Gogh used to take dinner.
