Van gogh still life paintings

Van Gogh still life with flowers and book

Detail of a pear. Van Gogh painted it with small dots and dashes in the contrasting colours green and red. #VincentvanGogh

Vincent van Gogh, Vase with Zinnias, 1888

For Van Gogh, oleanders were joyous, life-affirming flowers that bloomed "inexhaustibly" and were always "putting out strong new shoots." In this painting of August 1888 the flowers fill a majolica jug that the artist used for other still lifes made in Arles

Vincent told his artist friend Paul Signac that the fish stood for the gendarmes who hassled him after he mutilated his ear

Still-life painting has served artists for centuries as a sort of "practice" activity where the "subjects" are totally cooperative, just sitting or standing inanimately in view. Vincent van Gogh was able to take the genre to new heights of expression, infusing life and vitality into shoes, smoked fish, fruits, vegetables, books, human skulls, mugs and dishes.

A major show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston exhibits a wide range of the Dutch artist’s work.