View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic

Painted in the spring of 1887, View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic by Vincent van Gogh is painted in oil on canvas. The painting depicts the view from the room that the Dutch impressionist artist shared with his art dealer brother Theo.

The apartment where they lived was in the Montmartre area, which had expansive views from Montmartre hill across Paris from its fourth floor location. Van Gogh loved the view and it is the subject of several of his paintings.

The move to the Rue Lepic apartment from their previous home in Rue Laval signified an important step for Van Gogh, with the Rue Lepic apartment being much more spacious and allowing the artist to have his own studio space.

View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic by Vincent van Gogh shows how the artist loved to always paint what was outside and what was around him, with life constantly inspiring his works. Alongside his views of Montmartre, Van Gogh also spent much of his time here painting the streets of the area too, along with still-life paintings of flowers that were bought by their many visitors to the apartment.

However, although Van Gogh was initially enamoured of the apartment, his relationship with his brother began to deteriorate, in part because Van Gogh struggled with mental health and would often not take care of himself or their communal living space. The next year, Van Gogh would leave the apartment and head instead to Arles where he hoped to start his own artistic community.

A View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic by Vincent van Gogh shows much of the artist's signature impressionist style, with bright and colourful shuttered windows set against a blue and green changeable sky. The vertical and horizontal lines contrast together to create an image that is both static and yet still very much alive.

The foreground is packed with rooftops all close together, whilst the viewer's gaze is then drawn to the wider perspective that opens out to show further views of Paris in the distance. View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic by Vincent van Gogh also borrows stylistically from Pointillism, with calculated dabs of paint to create a broader image with depth and richness of colour. The geometric shapes of buildings frame the foreground of the painting, whilst the expansive blue sky rolls out towards the seemingly endless horizon.