Houses at Auvers: Difference between revisions

| artist=[[Vincent van Gogh]]

'''''Houses at Auvers''''' is an oil painting by [[Vincent van Gogh]],. paintedIt was created towards the end of May or beginning of June 1890, shortly after he had moved to [[Auvers-sur-Oise]], a small town northwest of [[Paris]], France.

His move was prompted by his dissatisfaction with the boredom and monotony of asylum life at [[Vincent van Gogh#Saint-Rémy (May 1889  – May 1890)|Saint-Rémy]], as well as by his emergence as an artist of some renown following [[Albert Aurier]]'s celebrated January 1890, ''[[Mercure de France]],'' review of his work.

In his final two months at Saint-Rémy, van Gogh painted from memory a number of canvases he called, "reminisces of the North"," harking back to his Dutch roots. The influence of this return to the North continued at Auvers, notably in F789, ''[[The Church at Auvers]]''. He did not, however, repeat his studies of peasant life of the sort he had made in his [[Vincent van Gogh#Nuenen and Antwerp (1883–1886)|Nuenen period]]. His paintings of dwellings at Auvers encompassed a range of social domains.

Vincent van Gogh spent the early 1881–1885 years of his brief ten-year career as an artist painting in the [[Netherlands]] at [[Etten-Leur|Etten]], [[The Hague]], [[Drenthe]], and [[Nuenen]] (his last family home). It was in Nuenen that Vincent executed F82, ''[[The Potato Eaters]]'', which he considered his first really successful painting, while other early paintings of the time, such as F83, ''The Cottage'' (left), attest to his sympathy for peasants and their way of life.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 423-51</ref>

Following the death of his father in March 1885 and ensuing difficulties and quarrels with both his family and neighborsneighbours in Nuenen, VincentVan Gogh moved first to [[Antwerp]], [[Belgium]], where he briefly studied at the [[Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)|Academy]],. andShortly thenthereafter, finallyhe joined his art dealer brother, [[Theo van Gogh (art dealer)|Theo]], in [[Paris]], [[France]], in March 1886. His move from Antwerp was motivated by worries about his health, sufferingafter he suffered a breakdown earlyearlier in the year.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 469-92</ref>

The two years he spent in Paris with his brother are the least documented of Vincent's career, simply because the main source for Vincent's life are the letters between them and, naturally, they did not correspond when together.{{efn-ua|In particular any paintings he might have sold in Paris have gone undocumented as a result. Van Der Veen and Knapp point out that in a sense he sold ''all'' his paintings to his art dealer brother Theo, because that is what they contracted together in return for Theo supporting him with what was by the standards of the day a comfortable stipend.<ref>Van Der Veen and Knapp pp. 13-4</ref>}} Nevertheless, there are abundant sources to show that Vincent participated fully in the artistic life of the city, although he never alignedaligning himself with the [[Impressionist]] movement. In particular, he came into contact with [[Paul Gauguin]], whom he idolized. By the end of the two-year period, relations between the brothers had soured somewhat and Vincent resolved to leave Paris and settle in [[Arles]] in the south of France, where he conceived the project of starting an artists' commune with Gauguin.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 540-63</ref>

[[File:Van Gogh - Starry Night - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|F612: ''[[The Starry Night]]'', [[Museum of Modern Art]]]]

Gauguin joined Vincent at [[The Yellow House (painting)|The Yellow House]] in October 1888. However, Vincent's erratic behaviorbehaviour and drunkenness alarmed Gauguin, and by ChristmasDecember he had resolved to leave. Vincent suffered a severe nervous collapse as a result and was hospitalizedhospitalised. Despite making a speedy recovery, Vincent voluntarily entered an asylum at [[Saint-Rémy-de-Provence]] on 9 May 1889, where he was able to continue painting between relapses of mania (his exact medical condition is not known with certainty). Perhaps his most loved and best known painting, F612 ''[[The Starry Night]]'', dates from this time. It exemplifies the vigorous and agitated brush work he had developed.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 744-71</ref>

Vincent suffered his most severe relapse towards the end of February 1890. The following two months he was unable to paint, and scarcely able even to write. He declared himself "totally stupifiedstupefied" in his single letter of this period to Theo on 17 March .<ref group= L>{{cite web|title=Letter 857: To Theo van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, on or about Monday, 17 March 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let857/letter.html|work=Vincent van Gogh: The Letters|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v:2|quote= I’m picking up this letter again to try and write, it will come little by little, it’s just that my mind has been so affected – without pain, it’s true – but totally stupefied.}}</ref> Hulsker called it the saddest period of Vincent's life. Nevertheless, Vincent was able to draw and paint a little as he recovered. He described painting a few canvases from memory, which he had experimented with in F496 ''[[Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles)]]'' while painting with Gauguin, in a letter to Theo dated 29 April.<ref name="Letter 863" group=L>{{cite web|title=Letter 863: To Theo van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Tuesday, 29 April 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let863/letter.html|work=Vincent van Gogh: The Letters|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v:2|quote= While I was ill I nevertheless still did a few small canvases from memory which you’ll see later, reminiscences of the North ...}}</ref> He called these paintings ''souvenirs du nord'', "reminisces of the North." He mentions he might redo F83 ''The Cottage'' (above left) and F84 ''[[Old Church Tower at Nuenen|The Old Church Tower at Nuenen]]''.

Vincent ascribed this latest relapse to the boredom and monotony of life at the asylum. For months, he had been writing to Theo saying he wanted to leave the asylum. He felt sure that if he moved back to Paris he would get well quickly.<ref group=L>{{cite web|title=Letter 865:To Theo van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, on or about Thursday, 1 May 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let865/letter.html|work=Vincent van Gogh: The Letters|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v:3|quote= I’m almost sure that I’ll soon get better in the north, at least for quite a long time, while still apprehensive of a relapse in a few years’ time – but not immediately.}}</ref> At the same time Vincent had become something of a celebrity in the art world following a very favorablefavourable review of his work by the critic [[Albert Aurier]], who declared him a genius.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 799-813</ref> Despite his misgivings, Theo followed advice proffered by [[Camille Pissarro]] and arranged for Vincent to work at the village of [[Auvers-sur-Oise]] north of Paris under the supervision of [[Paul Gachet|Paul Ferdinand Gachet]], a doctor.<ref>Naifeh & Smith, pp. 818-22</ref>

[[Auvers-sur-Oise]] was a medieval town about 15 miles northwest of the centercentre of Paris. It was only a few roads wide, but extended for miles along the river in both directions, vineyards and market gardens scattered all along its length. Its hamlets were a mix of clusters of thatched houses and farm enclosures. The French painter [[Charles-François Daubigny]] first moored his studio barge ''Botin'' there in the 1850s, and later purchased no less than three houses in the village as well as another nearby.<ref>Zemel p. 277 n.15</ref> With the advent of a railway, the town became a tourist centercentre, its population swelling from 2,000 to 3,000 in the summer months. It attracted artists such as [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Corot]], [[Cezanne]] and [[Pissarro]], all seeking to capture its rustic charms. Dealers like Theo van Gogh sold thousandthousands of their images.<ref>Naifeh & Smith p. 826</ref>

Auvers had consequently become a prosperous community. It was a model of [[French Third Republic#Modernization of the peasants|Third Republic idealism]] regarding the modernization of the peasants:<ref>Zemel p. 218</ref> {{quote|Auvers farmers worked their own land. Tenant farmers were rare, and most landowners employed day laborerslabourers only in the harvest season. PropertyThe property was parceledparcelled and passed on through inheritance or through private sales ... Steady, landed and industrious, wearing both peasant denim and the latest city styles, the Auvers farmers were, to vary [[Eugen Weber]]'s phrase, "peasants become Frenchmen," ... |Carol Zemel| Van Gogh's Progress: Utopia, Modernity, and Late-Nineteenth-Century Art|source=}}

Van Gogh was alert to the change and the new modernity. Writing to Theo and Jo on the 25 May, he remarked:<ref>Zemel pp. 214-5</ref><ref name="Letter 875" group=L>{{cite web|title=Letter 875: To Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, 25 May 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let875/letter.html|website=vangoghletters.org|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v2|quote= Here we’re far enough from Paris for it to be the real countryside, but nevertheless, how changed since Daubigny. But not changed in an unpleasant way, there are many villas and various modern and middle-class dwellings, very jolly, sunny and covered with flowers. That inis anthe almost lush countryside, just at this moment of the development of a new society in the old one, has nothing disagreeable about it; there’s a lot of well-being in the air. I see or think I see a calm there à la Puvis de Chavannes, no factories, but beautiful greenery in abundance and in good order.}}</ref>{{quote|Here we’re far enough from Paris for it to be the real countryside, but nevertheless, how changed since [[Daubigny]]. But not changed in an unpleasant way, there are many villas and various modern and middle-class dwellings, very jolly, sunny and covered with flowers. That inis anthe almost lush countryside, just at this moment of the development of a new society in the old one, has nothing disagreeable about it; there’s a lot of well-being in the air. I see or think I see a calm there à la [[Puvis de Chavannes]], no factories, but beautiful greenery in abundance and in good order.|author=|title=|source=}}

Van Gogh made no paintings of traditional peasant life, ''la vie rustique'', at Auvers of the sort he had formerly made in Nuenen. His sketchbooks contain perhaps just half a dozen or so quick studies of peasant scenes, such as F1615v ''Landscape with Peasant Women Harvesting'' (right), as well as a rather larger number of studies of farm animals such as chickens and ponies. His subjects were landscapes, townscapes, portraiture, and still lifes. His paintings at Auvers imply a range of social domains. Thus, his paintings of dwellings range from thatched cottages through to middle-class villas and finally aristocratic châteaus, and these are set within the social spaces of gardens, streets, and the vestiges of [[demesne|feudal domain]] respectively.<ref>Zemel p 229 n.41</ref>

During the months of May, June and July 1890, van Gogh was extremely productive. The letters give accounts of thirty-six paintings that can be dated with certainty to the Auvers period. The 1970 ''[[catalogue raisonné]]'' lists another fifty or so, of which some may date before Auvers and others may be inauthentic. Even the certain paintings imply a painting executed every other day over the two-month period.<ref>Hulsker pp. 454-8</ref>

The village captivated him. On his arrival on 20 May 1890, he wrote to his brother Theo and wife [[Johanna van Gogh-Bonger|Jo Bonger]] that "Auvers is really beautiful – among other things many old thatched roofs, which are becoming rare."<ref group=L>{{cite web|title=Letter 873: To Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, Tuesday, 20 May 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let873/letter.html|website=vangoghletters.org|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1r1|quote= Auvers is really beautiful – among other things many old thatched roofs, which are becoming rare.}}</ref> In his letter the following day he adds, "But I find the modern villas and the middle-class country houses almost as pretty as the old thatched cottages that are falling into ruin."<ref name="Pickvance p. 226">Pickvance p. 226</ref><ref name="Letter 874" group=L>{{cite web|title=Letter 874: To Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, on or about Wednesday, 21 May 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let874/letter.html|website=vangoghletters.org|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1r4|quote= But I find the modern villas and the middle-class country houses almost as pretty as the old thatched cottages that are falling into ruin.}}</ref>

The two thatched cottages at the left are set at right angles. They reappear in F780 ''Thatched cottages in Auvers'' ([[Houses at Auvers#Related work and influence|see below]]).<ref name= P234-5>Pickvance pp. 234-5</ref>

Van Gogh was generally meticulous in his depiction of street scenes, a fact that allowed the precise location of the F766 ''[[White House at Night]]'' to be ascertained, an Auvers painting that was once thought lost but re-emerged in 1995 in the collection of the [[Hermitage Museum]].<ref>{{cite news |date=23 April 2001 |title=Wishing on Van Gogh's star |newspaper=[[Toledo Blade]] |first1=Jenni |last1=Laidman |url=http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2001/04/23/Wishing-on-Van-Gogh-s-star.html |accessdateaccess-date=8 March 2015 |archiveurlarchive-url=https://wwwweb.webcitationarchive.org/6ZwufGeBy?url=web/20150712210819/http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2001/04/23/Wishing-on-Van-Gogh-s-star.html |archivedatearchive-date=1112 July 2015 |deadurl=no |dfurl-status=live }}</ref>

[[Toledo Museum of Art]], the holding museum, points to the structural juxtaposition of the blue-tiled roof and the adjacent thatched roof of the house. Vigorous brush strokes, varying in direction, are used to highlight the contrast and textures. By contrast, the trees and garden are represented in the characteristic swirling manner van Gogh developed at Saint-Rémy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Houses at Auvers|url=http://classes.toledomuseum.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/People$00404087/1?t:state:flow=3fa304c4-7a6c-4703-b68d-e1fb75b89d46|website=toledomuseum.org|publisher=[[Toledo Museum of Art]]|access-date=2015-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104757/http://classes.toledomuseum.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/People$00404087/1?t:state:flow=3fa304c4-7a6c-4703-b68d-e1fb75b89d46|archive-date=2015-04-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Pickvance notes the colorcolour scheme is restrained in accordance with van Gogh's return to the North, but also in response to the weather conditions: the sky is laden with clouds and a poplar tree bends to the force of the wind. The paint is applied remarkably thinly in places, and there are bare patches of canvas.<ref name= P234-5 /> Van Der Veen & Knapp remark that at the time of writing (2010), the shutters still retained their original green colorcolour.<ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp p. 125</ref>

The picturesque thatched cottages of Auvers appear of necessity in many of van Gogh's views of the town. Only in four paintings are thatched cottages the dominant theme: F758, F780, F792, and F806.<ref>Pickvance, p. 249</ref> In drawings such as F1640r (right), the exaggerated rounded roof lines are not to be found in either French or Dutch cottages. They are part of van Gogh's return to the North he describes in a letter to Theo dated 29 April 1890. The drawing is a study for F750 (below). Close examination shows that there are nevertheless significant differences between the two works; for example, the hills in the painting are trees in the drawing. Van Der Veen & Knapp comment that these liberties van Gogh took with his subject matter demonstrate that his paintings and drawings are not literal depictions of nature but rather interpretations of it.<ref>Pickvance p. 223</ref><ref name="Letter 863" group=L /><ref>Colta ''et al.'' p. 334</ref><ref>Van der Veen & Knapp p. 77</ref>

* On Sunday 8 June, Theo, and Jo and(with babytheir then-infant son, Vincent Willem) visited Vincent and they all had dinner together at Dr. Gachet's. The following Tuesday, 10 June, van Gogh wrote to say he had since completed two more studies in "the greenery" (i.e. the suburbs). Hulsker thought these were most likely F758 ''Farmhouses in Jorgus with figures'' and F806 ''Farmhouse with two figures''.<ref>Hulsker p. 462</ref><ref name="Letter 881" group=L /> Van Der Veen & Knapp describe F758 as extremely crude, a reminder that not everything from a master is masterful, nevertheless pointing out the masterly economy of the figure on the right and the line of chickens to her left. By contrast the figure on the left is quite unfinished. Similarly F806 is unfinished in parts, especially at the lower right where there is bare canvas. The brushwork is indistinct and the sky lacks definition.<ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp pp. 128, 131</ref>

* F780 ''Thatched Cottages in Auvers'' depicts the thatch on a cottage being renewed. The location is the same one in Chaponval as F759 ''Houses in Auvers'' (i.e. the subject of this article), featuring the same house with a pointed roof and distinctive chimney (the leftmost house in F758 is the rightmost house in F780 seen at right angles). However, whereas F759 was painted shortly after van Gogh arrived in Auvers, F780 would seem to have been amongst the last of van Gogh's paintings, as he encloses a sketch of it (right) in his last letter to Theo of 23 July.{{efn-ua|A draft of this letter was found on van Gogh's body, but it did not differ significantly from the one Theo actually received.<ref>A facsimile is enclosed as a supplement with Van Der Veen and Knapp (2009)</ref> Nevertheless the 23 July letter was sufficiently out of character for Theo and Jo to correspond about it (Jo was in Amsterdam at the time).<ref name="Letters 902" group= L />{{Rp|n.2}} Hulsker says of Vicent's last letters that they are not exactly cheerful (he was beset with worries about Theo's health and future), but that they were not suicidal. Indeed, the 23 July letter included a request for fresh paints.<ref>Hulsker p. 482</ref>}}<ref name=" Letters 902" group= L>{{cite web|title= Letter 902: To Theo van Gogh. Auvers-sur-Oise, Wednesday, 23 July 1890|url= http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let902/letter.html|work= Vincent van Gogh: The Letters|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v:2|quote=... I’m adding a croquis of old thatched roofs.}}</ref> Both Hulsker and De La Faille date it July 1890.<ref>Hulsker p. 476</ref><ref>De La Faille p.300</ref> Both Pickvance and Van Der Veen & Knapp note that it is compositionally similar to F420 ''[[Saintes-Maries (Van Gogh series)#Town|Row of Cottages at Saintes Maries]]'' painted some two years earlier on a day trip from the asylum at Saint-Rémy.<ref>Pickvance pp. 249-50</ref><ref name="Van Der Veen & Knapp" />

* Van Der Veen and Knapp describe F792 ''Thatched Cottages at Cordeville'' as characteristic of the village views van Gogh made at this time. The colorscolours are subdued and no use of complementary colorscolours is made. The location is quite likely 18 Rue Rajon ({{Coord|format=dms|49|4|27.80|N|2|11|11.09|E}}).<ref>Vand Der Veen & Knapp p 123</ref> Hulsker places it amongst the earliest of the Auvers paintings.<ref>Hulsker p. 454</ref> De La Faille notes similarities of location with drawing F1637r.<ref>De La Faille p 303</ref>

Other paintings from this period are: F750 ''[[Thatched Cottages and Houses]]'' (for which F1640r above right is a study), F789 ''[[The Church at Auvers]]'' (another example of his return to the North),<ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp p. 106</ref> [[Auvers size 30 canvases|the size 30 canvases]], and the [[double-square painting]]s. F793 ''[[Farms near Auvers]]'' is an example of a double-square canvas.<ref name="Tate">{{cite web |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=5386&searchid=9212&roomid=false&tabview=text&texttype=8 |title=Farms near Auvers, 1890 |author= |work=Tate Collection |publisher=[[Tate Museum]] Online |accessdateaccess-date=16 February 2011}}</ref><ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp p. 190</ref><ref>De La Faille p. 303</ref>

File:Vincent van Gogh - The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the Chevet - Google Art Project.jpg|F789: ''[[The Church at Auvers]]'', [[Musée d'Orsay]]

* F750 ''Thatched Cottage and Houses'' was probably the first landscape van Gogh painted at Auvers. Writing to Theo and Jo around 21 May, Vincent says: "Now I have a study of old thatched roofs with a field of peas in flower and some wheat in the foreground, hilly background.. ", and continues with a remark that it did him good to go into the south, "the better to see the north". Van Der Veen & Knapp point out the serene calm of the painting; not a breath of wind disturbs the smoke rising from the chimney.<ref name="Letter 874" group=L /><ref>Van der Veen & Knapp p.72</ref>

* F789 ''The Church at Auvers'', a size 30 canvas, is described in a letter of 5 June to his sister Wil: "... It's again almost the same thing as the studies I did in Nuenen of the old tower and the cemetery."<ref group= L>{{cite web|title=Letter 879: To Willemien van Gogh. Auvers-sur-Oise, Thursday, 5 June 1890|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let879/letter.html|work=Vincent van Gogh: The Letters|publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]]|at= 1v:2|quote= I have a larger painting of the village church – an effect in which the building appears purplish against a sky of a deep and simple blue of pure cobalt, the stained-glass windows look like ultramarine blue patches, the roof is violet and in part orange. In the foreground a little flowery greenery and some sunny pink sand. It’s again almost the same thing as the studies I did in Nuenen of the old tower and the cemetery. Only now the colour is probably more expressive, more sumptuous.}}</ref> The study he was referring to was F84:''[[Old Church Tower at Nuenen|The Old Church Tower at Nuenen]]'', which he had already said he would like to redo as one of his "reminisces of the North" at Saint Rémy.<ref name="Letter 863" group=L /> Hulsker remarks that ''[[The Starry Night]]'' is probably the only painting that matches it in its intensity of colorcolour and emotional charge.<ref>Hulsker p. 460</ref>

:*A sheet of figure studies F1652r (right) has at its upper left a young girl seen from behind very close to the lower rightmost girl in the painting.{{Clarify|date=February 2021}}<ref>De La Faille p.304</ref> The profile of a young girl to the right on the sheet is recognizably Adeline Ravoux, daughter of the innkeeper at the [[Auberge Ravoux]] &mdash;where van Gogh lodged. She is the subject of portraits [[Portraits by Vincent van Gogh#Adeline Ravoux|F768, F786, and F769]]. The young girl seen from behind is assumed to be her as well. As well as F795, she is thought to appear in a number of other paintings, including especially [[:commons:File:Van Gogh - Zwei Mädchen beim Spaziergang entlang der Felder.jpeg| F819]] ''Two Ladies Walking in a Landscape''. The sheet fetchedsold for $44804,480,000 at a [[Christie's]] sale in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sale 1831 Lot 28|url=http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/vincent-van-gogh-figure-sketches-sketches-4905185-details.aspx?intObjectID=4905185|website=christies.com|publisher=[[Christie's]]}}</ref>

* F802 ''Village Street'' is a considerable curiosity as it was one of ten paintings exhibited at a [[Salon des Artistes Indépendants]] exhibition in 1891 a year after van Gogh's death.<ref>De La Faille pp. 643, 691</ref> The catalogcatalogue entry read ''Village (dernière esquisse)'' i.e. "Village (last work)". There is no mention of the painting in the letters and presumably its unfinished nature was responsible for calling it van Gogh's last painting. Pickvance notes the energy of the painting, betraying no indication of a tormented mind.<ref>Pickvance p. 248</ref> Hulsker noted its lively colorcolour accents give it a cheerful aspect, to be found repeatedly in other paintings of the same sort at this time.<ref name= H458>Hulsker p. 458</ref> Van Der Veen & Knapp think it was part of a series of views of the village made between the end of May and the beginning of June and that it is unfinished simply because van Gogh abandoned it, dissatisfied with the results he was getting.<ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp p. 91</ref> It has the distinction of being the first van Gogh painting ever to be purchased by a museum, the [[Ateneum]] purchasing it in 1903 from the estate of [[Julien Leclercq (poet)|Julien Leclercq]], who had organised one of the earliest van Gogh exhibitions.<ref>{{cite web|title=International collection |url=http://www.ateneum.fi/en/international-collection |website=ateneum.fi |publisher=[[Arteneum]] |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309173959/http://www.ateneum.fi/en/international-collection |archivedatearchive-date=2014-03-09 |df= }}</ref>

* De La Faille gives the location of F805 ''Houses at Auvers'' as 2 Rue Marceau ({{Coord|format=dms|49|4|16.21|N|2|8|58.99|E}}), about 200 yards east of 5 Rue de Gré. However, the correct address is 4 Rue Marceau. There were originally two farms, from the Caffin Family and the Youtte Family. Albert Caffin was the mayor of the town, who also signed Vincent Van Gogh's death certificate.<ref>De La Faille p. 306</ref> Hulsker includes it amongst his list of cheerful canvases enlivened by colorcolour accents.<ref name= H458 /> Van Der Veen and Knapp place the painting as a continuation of van Gogh's early exploration of the village, contrasting it with the Dutch cottage F90 ''[[:commons:File:1885 van Gogh Bauernhaus in Nuenen anagoria.JPG|Cottage and Woman with a Goat]]'' he had painted a few years before in Nuenen and a companion piece to F83 ''The Cottage'' he had considered redoing as one of his "reminisces of the North" in Saint-Rémy.<ref name="Letter 863" group=L /> They note the use of complementary colorscolours, for example the blue shadow of the foreground cottage cast on the yellow path.<ref>Van Der Veen & Knapp p. 92</ref> The painting was awarded top prize at the [[Boston Museum of Fine Arts]]' first "[[Crowdsourcing#Crowdvoting|crowd-sourced]]" exhibition{{mdash}}"Boston Loves Impressionism".{{efn-ua|"The public was given the opportunity to cast their votes on a group of 50 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces from the MFA's collection.... With 4,464 votes, van Gogh's Houses at Auvers won the top prize, perhaps indicating the public's shifting allegiance from Monet and the Impressionists towards Post-Impressionism. However, [[Cézanne]]—who can also be categorized as a Post-Impressionist—has only one work voted into the show." the top three works at the exhibition were: 1. Houses at Auvers, 1890, Vincent van Gogh (4,464 votes); 2. [[Water Lilies]], 1907, [[Claude Monet]] (3,543 votes); 3. [[Little Dancer of Fourteen Years|Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer]], original model 1878–81, cast after 1921, [[Edgar Degas]] (2,869 votes)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.org/news/Boston_Loves_Impressionism_Winners |first1=Karen |last1=Frascona |title=Vincent van Gogh's 'Houses at Auvers' Voted Boston's Favorite Impressionist Painting: Unveils First 'Crowdsourced' Exhibition |date=14 February 2014 |publisher=Museum of Fine Arts |work=Exhibition, Boston Loves Impressionism |location=Boston, Massachusetts |accessdateaccess-date=6 March 2015}}</ref> }}

The Toledo Museum of Art purchased ''Houses at Auvers'' in 1935 with funds from the Libbey Endowment, the gift of [[Edward Libbey]].<ref name="provenance">{{cite web |url=http://www.toledomuseum.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Provenance-Research-lowres.pdf |format=PDF |publisher=Toledo Museum of Art, Provenance Research Project |title=Provenance Report |page=3 |work=Ownership History for European Paintings (1933–1945) |accessdateaccess-date=8 March 2015}}</ref> The work had previously been owned by [[Andries Bonger|André Bonger]] of Amsterdam.<ref name=provenance />

*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdCzDt666RMC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dqq=toledo+Houses+at+Auvers&sourcepg=bl&ots=d6qcOghPDK&sig=wvs0wB1QpJTUVeG0FYR2VC8bwn0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=USj_VMPQJoOayQT2k4GICQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBDge#v=onepage&q=toledo%20Houses%20at%20Auvers&f=falsePA47 |work=Vincent Van Gogh |title=Oil paintings by van Gogh in American museums |first1=Alfred H. |last1=Barr |isbn=978-0-7146-2039-8 |id={{ISBN|0-7146-2039-4}} |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Routledge

|date=28 February 1967|ref=harv}}

*{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Kathleen Powers |title=At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent van Gogh |url=https://archive.org/details/ateternitysgate00eric |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=0-8028-4978-4 |id={{ISBN|978-0802849786}}}}

*{{cite book|last=De La Faille|first=Jacob Baart|title=The works of Vincent van Gogh|year=1970|publisher=Meulenhoff|location=Amsterdam|url=http://www.worldcat.org/title/works-of-vincent-van-gogh-his-paintings-and-drawings/oclc/300160639&referer=brief_results |edition=3rd |refoclc=harv300160639}}

*{{cite book|last=Hulsker|first=Jan|title=The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches|year=1986 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Harrison House/Harry N. Abrams Distributed by Crown Publishers, Random House|isbn=0-517-44867-X |ref=harv}}

*{{cite book |last1=Pickvance|first1=Ronald |title=Van Gogh In Saint-Rémy and Auvers'' (exhibition catalog, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])'' |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art, Abrams |year=1986 |isbn=0-87099-477-8 |ref=harv}}

*{{cite book|title=Van Gogh in Auvers: His Last Days|year=2010|first1=Wouter|last1=Van Der Veen|first2=Peter|last2=Knapp|location=New York |publisher=The Monacelli Press|isbn=978-1-58093-301-7|ref=harv8}}

*{{cite book | title=The pursuit of spiritual wisdom: the thought and art of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin | last1=Maurer |first1=Naomi E. |first2=Vincent |last2=van Gogh | publisher=Associated University Presses | location=Cranbury | year=1999 | origyearorig-year=1998 |isbn=0-8386-3749-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wf_PoXKhggkC&pg=PA62#v=onepage&f=false }}

*{{cite book|title=Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings|year=2010|first1= Ingo F.|first3= Rainer|last1 = Walther|last3= Metzger |first2=Vincent |last2=van Gogh |volume=II |location=Köln London |publisher=Taschen|isbn=978-3-8365-2299-31 }}

*{{cite book |last1=Welsh-Ovcharov |first1=Bogomila |isbn=0-88363-341-8 |id={{ISBN|978-0883633410}} |title=Van Gogh in Provence and Auvers |location=New York |year=1999 }}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001319/http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Drawing/1059/House-at-Auvers,-A.html ''A House at Auvers''] Sketch, Van Gogh Gallery

*{{cite web |url=http://classes.toledomuseum.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/People$00404087/1?t:state:flow=3fa304c4-7a6c-4703-b68d-e1fb75b89d46 |title=''Houses at Auvers'' |publisher=Toledo Museum of Art |work=Our Collection, E-museum |accessdateaccess-date=9 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104757/http://classes.toledomuseum.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/People$00404087/1?t:state:flow=3fa304c4-7a6c-4703-b68d-e1fb75b89d46 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead }} {{ndash}} includes bibliography.

[[Category:VincentPaintings vanof GoghAuvers-sur-Oise paintingsby ofVincent Auversvan Gogh]]

[[Category:Paintings in Ohiothe Toledo Museum of Art]]