
Composition VIII
Wassily Kandinsky
1923
Montagnes à Saint-Rémy


Painted in July 1889 during Van Gogh's stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum. The Alpilles mountains, visible from the asylum grounds, became a recurring subject. Coming from flat Netherlands, Van Gogh regarded these modest hills as true mountains.
The undulating forms are rendered with characteristic swirling brushstrokes and intense color. A lone farmhouse nestles among olive trees at the base. Van Gogh described it as "a view of mountains with a darkish hut among olive trees."
Part of the Thannhauser Collection at the Guggenheim Museum in New York since 1976.