Les Arènes is a painting by
Vincent van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age...
executed in
ArlesArles is a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence.-Geography:...
, in November or December 1888, during the period of time when
Paul GauguinEugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. His bold experimentation with colouring led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way...
was living with him in The
Yellow HouseThe Yellow House is the title generally given to an oil painting by the 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.This title refers to the right wing of the building, 2, Place Lamartine, Arles, France, the house where, on May 1, 1888, Van Gogh rented four rooms, two large ones...
. The bullfight season in Arles that year started on Easter Sunday 1 April and ended on 21 October. Van Gogh's painting is therefore not a study from nature but done from memory. Gauguin encouraged Van Gogh to work in the studio in this manner.
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Les Arènes is a painting by
Vincent van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age...
executed in
ArlesArles is a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence.-Geography:...
, in November or December 1888, during the period of time when
Paul GauguinEugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. His bold experimentation with colouring led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way...
was living with him in The
Yellow HouseThe Yellow House is the title generally given to an oil painting by the 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.This title refers to the right wing of the building, 2, Place Lamartine, Arles, France, the house where, on May 1, 1888, Van Gogh rented four rooms, two large ones...
. The bullfight season in Arles that year started on Easter Sunday 1 April and ended on 21 October. Van Gogh's painting is therefore not a study from nature but done from memory. Gauguin encouraged Van Gogh to work in the studio in this manner. The painting may not be finished as the paint is very thinly applied, and patches of bare jute show through in places.
It seems that members of
the Roulin FamilyThe Roulin Family is group of portrait paintings Vincent van Gogh executed in Arles in 1888 and 1889.-Background:Joseph Roulin was born on 4 April 1841 in Lambesc, about 60 km east of Arles, and died in September 1903 in Marseille...
are depicted in this portrait/, and the woman in Arlésienne costume has the profile of Madame Ginoux.
A matter of weeks after painting this canvas, at Christmas 1888, Van Gogh cut off part of his own ear. One of the many theories about this notorious incident is that the bullfights (or "bull games" as they are called in Arles) made a deep impression on Van Gogh, in particular the custom of severing one ear of a defeated bull. The victorious matador circles the arena displaying this prize to the crowd, before presenting it to a lady of his choice. There is some doubt as to whether the bulls were killed in this fashion in Arles in Van Gogh's time.