本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Les Alyscamps was a famous ancient burial ground dating back to Roman times. All that remained of it when Van Gogh went to Arles was what is shown here: a wide avenue lined on either side by rows of poplars and ancient sarcophagi. Van Gogh painted this scene four times as part of a series featuring the different seasons. Before completing these he wrote to Theo explaining that he had already represented spring, and now wanted to paint the other times of the year.

Almost symmetrical in format, Van Gogh has animated the composition by making one side distinctly darker than the other. Nevertheless, one is still struck by the central position we find ourselves in, with everything receding to a blurred green focal point of distant foliage. Even the sky forms a shape that points in that direction. As usual, however, the illusion of pictorial space is contradicted by the painting’s flatness. Again the sky is significant: rather than being painted as something airy and ethereal which theoretically continues to exist behind the trees, here it appears as a triangular block of color in its own right. The paint is layered thickly and steadily in the manner of Gauguin, whose symbolist ideas could also have affected Van Gogh’s choice of subject matter in this picture—the sarcophagi are ripe with morbid symbolist potential.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net