Terrace in the Luxembourg Gardens

1886

Shortly after moving to Paris, Van Gogh painted this scene of people strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens. He had recently encountered the work of artists like Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro for the first time when visiting exhibitions and galleries, perhaps guided by his brother Theo, an art dealer. Van Gogh began experimenting with Impressionist subject matter and techniques, using small touches of pure color to capture the sunlight and shadows of this outdoor urban setting.

Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	10 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. (27 x 46 cm) Frame: 17 5/8 x 25 1/16 x 3 1/4 in. (44.8 x 63.7 x 8.3 cm)
Object Number	1955.889
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1939
Status	On View

Image Caption

Vincent van Gogh, Terrace in the Luxembourg Gardens, 1886, Oil on canvas. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.889.

Bibliography

Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

Provenance

Probably Theo van Gogh (by 1890–d. 1891); Johanna Gesina van Gogh-Bonger, Amsterdam, his wife, by descent (1891, until at least 1914); [G. Tanner, Zurich]; [N. Eisenloeffel, Amsterdam]; [Leicester Art Galleries, London, in 1930]; [Knoedler, London, sold to Beatty, June 1934]; Mrs. Chester Beatty, London (1934–37, sold to Knoedler); [Knoedler, London, sold to Clark, 10 Nov. 1937, as La Terrasse des Tuileries (Place de la Concorde)]; Robert Sterling Clark (1937–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.