Vincent van Gogh - The Old Mill [1888]

Van Gogh was often criticised for working too quickly. A closer look at The Old Mill, however, reveals the care with which the brushstrokes were applied. He used various types of strokes for different parts of the landscape: for example, short, directional ones for the foliage; long, vertical ones for the purple fence posts; and smooth, curved strokes for the sky. Van Gogh wrote that he thought about each painting at length in advance, thus could work fairly quickly when he finally began to paint. For this reason, he said, “When anyone says that such and such is done too quickly . . . they have looked at it too quickly.”

[Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York - Oil on canvas, 64.8 x 54 cm]