Double-square painting

Double-square paintings is a painting made on uncommonly large canvases which have one dimension that is twice the size of the other. Vincent van Gogh used 50 cm × 100 cm (20 in × 39 in) double-squares almost exclusively during the final weeks of his life in Auvers, in June and July 1890.^[1] Prior to Van Gogh, artists such as Charles-François Daubigny and Puvis de Chavannes^[2] had used canvases of similar proportions.

Description

In a double-square painting, one dimension of the canvas is twice the size of the other, so that the canvas is the shape of two adjoining squares. The overall effect of this is stability, and the compositional challenge is to avoid monotony.

Use

Prior to Van Gogh, artists such as Charles-François Daubigny and Puvis de Chavannes^[2] had used canvases of similar proportions, and Van Gogh was aware of this.

Van Gogh's Double-square canvases

Mademoiselle Gachet at the Piano, 1890, Kunstmuseum Basel

Vincent van Gogh used double-squares almost exclusively during the final weeks of his life in Auvers, in June and July 1890.^[1] To arrive at this size, Van Gogh combined the legs of two standard sizes: the 50 cm leg from a size 12 and the 100 cm leg of a size 40 stretcher. The result was a double-square of 50 cm × 100 cm (20 in × 39 in), and from this size, easily the square could be derived by using two 50 cm legs. His choice of this size points into another direction from previous artists; his double-squares can easily be combined with size 30 canvases to more elaborated décorations, and his squares extend these possibilities.

Tree Roots, July, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F816, JH2113)
Wheat Fields near Auvers, June–July 1890, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Sheaves of Wheat, 1890, Dallas Museum of Art (F771)
Field with Stacks of Grain, July 1890, Beyeler Foundation, Riehen, Switzerland (F809)
Undergrowth with Two Figures, June 1890, Cincinnati Museum of Art
Thatched Cottages by a Hill, July 1890, Tate Gallery, London (F 793, JH 2114)
Wheat Field with Crows, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Wheatfieldd Under Thunderclouds, July 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Landscape with Castle Auvers at Sunset, June 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F770)
Landscape at Auvers in the Rain, July 1890, National Museum Cardiff, Wales
Daubigny's Garden, July 1890, Auvers, Kunstmuseum Basel Basel. Barbizon painter Charles Daubigny moved to Auvers in 1861. Pictorially he put Auvers on the map, attracting artists Camille Corot and Honoré Daumier among others, and in 1890 Vincent van Gogh. Vincent made a second version of Daubigny's Garden in July 1890, and they are among his final works.^[3]
Daubigny's Garden, 1890, Hiroshima Museum of Art, Hiroshima

Subsequent uses of the dimensions

Ivon Hitchens worked primarily in double-squares at certain periods in his career.

Footnotes

1 2 These terms were coined by Ronald Pickvance, one of the leading experts in Van Gogh-research.
1 2 Hammacher, A. M. The Ten Creative Years of Vincent van Gogh, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1968. page 175
↑ Pickvance (1986), 272-273

References

Pickvance, Ronald:
Zemel, Carol:

Vincent van Gogh
General	Biography Chronology Health Death Posthumous fame Cultural depictions List of works Post-Impressionism Auberge Ravoux Café du Tambourin The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
Family	Theo van Gogh Wil van Gogh Johanna van Gogh-Bonger Andries Bonger Theo van Gogh (film director) Anton Mauve Johannes Stricker
Friends	Émile Bernard Eugène Boch Anna Boch Fernand Cormon Paul Gachet Paul Gauguin John Peter Russell Agostina Segatori Anthon van Rappard
Groups of works	Self portraits Portraits Early works Lost early works Sien Peasant Character Studies Cottages Van Gogh's family in his art Montmartre Outskirts of Paris Still life paintings, Paris Le Moulin de la Galette Asnières Seine Wheat Fields Flowering Orchards Almond Blossoms Langlois Bridge at Arles Saintes-Maries Paintings of Children Décoration for the Yellow House The Roulin Family Hospital in Arles Butterflies Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy The Enclosed Wheat Field at Saint-Rémy Trees and Undergrowth Copies by Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees Display at Les XX, 1890 Auvers size 30 canvases Auvers Double-squares and Squares Japonaiserie Sunflowers Still life paintings, Netherlands Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg Houses at Auvers
Paintings	Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague Girl in White in the Woods Lying Cow A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background Cows in the Meadow Farmhouses Among Trees Bulb Fields Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam Old Church Tower at Nuenen Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Still Life with Straw Hat The Potato Eaters Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette Vase with Red Poppies Poppy Flowers Wheat Field with a Lark View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic Portrait of Père Tanguy A Woman Walking in a Garden Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Landscape with Snow La Mousmé The Zouave The Night Café The Yellow House Van Gogh's Chair Café Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhône Portrait of the Artist's Mother Bedroom in Arles Falling Autumn Leaves L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) Les Arènes Interior of a Restaurant in Arles A Lane near Arles View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Arles: View from the Wheat Fields Sunset at Montmajour Crab on its Back Two Crabs La Berceuse Irises The Starry Night Self-portrait (1889) Self-portrait without beard Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul Enclosed Field with Peasant Green Wheat Field with Cypress Ivy Farmhouse in Provence Road with Cypress and Star At Eternity's Gate Thatched Cottages and Houses Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers Houses at Auvers White House at Night Girl in White The Church at Auvers Daubigny's Garden Farms near Auvers The Town Hall at Auvers Blossoming Chestnut Branches Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint-Rémy Wheatfield with Crows Tree Roots Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses
Other works	Drawings, water-colours and prints 87 Hackford Road Church Pew with Worshippers Portrait of a Man in a Top Hat Sorrow Marsh with Water Lilies Torso of Venus and a Landscape Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman
Public collections	Van Gogh Museum Kröller-Müller Museum Musée d'Orsay National Gallery (London)
Portrayals	Lust for Life (1934 novel 1956 film) Van Gogh (1948 film) Van Gogh (1956 opera) "Vincent" (1971 song) Vincent (1987 film) Vincent & Theo (1990 film) Vincent (1990 opera) Van Gogh (1991 film) Vincent in Brixton (2003 play) "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010 TV episode) Loving Vincent (2017 film)
Cataloguers	Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 and 1970; "F") Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; "JH")

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