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Room 2: The Garden: Poetic Interpretations
Van Gogh chose a great variety of motifs from the public garden in front of his home in Arles and later within the confines of the grounds of the hospital of Saint-Paul de Mausole at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. In his paintings and works on paper, he selected specific viewpoints and varied his approach to style and use of colour to explore wide-ranging emotional and poetic possibilities, often with a literary or artistic source in mind. In aiming to convey meaning rather than accurately record nature, Van Gogh took a free hand in adjusting or recomposing what he observed to achieve his desired effects.