Auvers-sur-Oise · Cordeville · July 1890
Farms near Auvers : the roofs under a heavy sky
A strip of cottages sinks into the valley, the gables collide, the hill rises behind them and a barely worked sky weighs across the entire width. In this late panorama, Van Gogh does not paint a quiet village: he transforms aging roofs into living architecture.
The short answer
What exactly does the table show?
Farms near Auvers, also called Cottages on a hill, represents rural houses of Cordeville, hamlet located on the edge of Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh sets the horizon line very high and devotes almost the entire canvas to the terrain, walls and tangle of roofs.
The table belongs to the eleven elongated landscapes in double square format painted in Auvers during the summer of 1890. This support, approximately one meter wide, allows peripheral vision: the gaze does not fix on a monument, it circulates from one gable to another as if it were running along the village.
The National Gallery considers the work to be apparently unfinished. The sky, certain connections on the horizon and the upper right area remain unresolved. This reservation is important: it describes the material state of the painting, but proves neither a voluntary rupture nor a hidden autobiographical message.
Before any interpretation
See the entire panorama first
The width is not a format detail: it is the very subject of the work. The village reads like a succession, while the sky forms a continuous band which retains the entire composition.
Read from top to bottom
Seven forces that put the landscape under tension
An almost empty sky
The upper band appears light in material but heavy in fact. Its bluish gray offers neither light escape nor clear atmospheric depth.
A hill blocking the horizon
The relief follows the width of the canvas and brings the background closer together. Auvers becomes a deep, compressed space between earth and sky.
Two diagonals of houses
The cottages descend towards the valley then leave in the opposite direction. This encounter creates the visual node indicated by the National Gallery.
Overlapping sprockets
The facades are not isolated as in an architectural view. They fit together with the fields and make the space deliberately unstable.
The outline as a framework
Dark green, blue and brown lines surround roofs and walls. They hold the composition as much as they describe the buildings.
A land in short touches
The hatching changes direction depending on the plot. The surface vibrates, but each group of lines also indicates the slope of the land.
No human heroes
The houses seem inhabited without a narrative scene dominating. The real character is the assembly of the village and the soil.
Four areas to look closely at
The picture is constructed in its friction
These enlargements use the same image. They do not replace the entire view: they serve to see how thin skies, thick roof ridges and discontinuous touches together produce the stormy sensation.
The sky held back
The canvas remains perceptible in places. The heavy effect comes less from a dramatic black than from a cold and poorly modulated band.
Roofs in a hurry
The brown-green covers almost touch each other. The outline individualizes them, then the rhythm transforms them into a single chain.
The difficult connection
At the top right, the large roof matches the relief. Reading difficulty may indicate an area still being developed.
The hatched ground
Violets, greens and yellows alternate into small units. The ground is not full: it is oriented by gesture.
The color before the symbol
A palette of wet earth and acidic light
The painting is not based on a spectacular contrast of complements. It works a narrow range, crossed by yellows, violets and browns which change according to the thickness of the line.
Blue gray
Green Yellow
Lemon ocher
Red brown
Soft purple
Deep green
Two squares side by side
Why does Van Gogh choose such a large format?
The "double square" combines two almost square modules to form a rectangle close to 1:2. Van Gogh used it in Auvers for eleven paintings. The support is not a canvas cut after the fact: it conditions the design of the landscape from the start.
In Farms near Auvers, the length allows you to chain several buildings together without choosing a central house. The viewer walks through the roofs like a sentence. In wheat fields, the same format gives the terrain the scale of a sea. In The Daubigny Garden, he transforms an enclosed garden into a frieze.
This choice also shows that Van Gogh's latest research is not reduced to a darker color. They concern the material shape of the painting, the speed of the gaze and the possibility of panoramic painting.
A material state, not a psychological enigma
Is the work really unfinished?
The most cautious answer is "probably". Several material clues converge, but they do not allow us to reconstruct with certainty the painter's last gesture.
The sky remains thin
The material is less constructed there than in fields and houses. Some areas still give the impression of a first passage rather than a recaptured state.
Right unresolved
The large roof, the relief and the horizon are difficult to combine. The National Gallery assumes that Van Gogh may not have yet established their definitive relationship.
Speed is not abandonment
Van Gogh deliberately uses quick touches and moving contours. An open surface can therefore belong to its language without being automatically unfinished.
Seventy days of work
Auvers, from May 20 to July 29, 1890
The Musée d'Orsay lists 74 paintings and 33 drawings for this brief period. Thatched roofs, which became rare after their local ban following a fire in 1879, remind Van Gogh of the Brabant of his youth.
Arrive
After Saint-Rémy and a stop in Paris, Van Gogh moved to the Ravoux inn. The proximity of Theo and the presence of Doctor Gachet motivated the choice of Auvers.
Painting the village
He immediately notices the old thatched roofs. Houses, streets, gardens and portraits provide his first motifs.
Go up to the fields
Its walking radius remains limited, but the stretched village, the hamlets and the plateau offer very different framing.
Expand the canvas
The eleven double squares condense fields, gardens and cottages. The horizon line becomes a major expressive tool.
An interrupted timeline
Van Gogh dies two days after being injured. The precise order of several last paintings remains debated: too affirmative classifications must be avoided.
Auvers photographed
From the painted village to the real landscape
These historical and contemporary photographs allow us to find the scale of the farms, the slope of the streets, the hamlets and the ribbon of the Oise. They document Auvers without claiming to artificially reconstruct Van Gogh's exact framing.
A farm entrance in Auvers
About ten years after Van Gogh's death, this photograph retains the presence of irregular walls, large portals and interlocking agricultural buildings. It gives a concrete scale to the "farms" of the title: not isolated constructions in the middle of the fields, but complexes integrated into the village.
Photographer unknown, public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
A house on rue des Meulières
Chaponval belongs to the long string of hamlets that make up Auvers. The light stone, the enclosure walls and the close relationship between dwelling and street recall the rural structure that Van Gogh discovers while exploring the surrounding area.
Photo: P.poschadel, CC BY-SA 2.0 France. File and license.
The Ravoux Inn in the time of Van Gogh
Van Gogh rents a small room in the attic of this inn in the center of Auvers. He leaves every day with his equipment to reach the streets, the gardens and the plateau, then brings back the canvases worked outside.
Unknown photographer, public domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Rue Daubigny
The photography restores what flat reproductions sometimes make us forget: Auvers is built on a slope. Stairs, walls and tiered gardens physically organize the passage from the edge of the Oise to the fields of the plateau.
Photo: Clicsouris, CC BY-SA 3.0. File and license.
The Oise seen from the bridge
The river gives its name to the village and explains its length. Van Gogh mainly paints houses and fields, but this strip of water, the banks and the rail link structure the real Auvers.
Photo: Clicsouris, CC BY-SA 3.0. File and license.
Compare to see better
Six landscapes of Auvers around the farms
The following views belong to the same campaign, but each regulates the relationship between habitat, relief and fields differently. The links open the corresponding reproductions available in the store.
Cottages in Auvers
A less extreme format, more enveloping vegetation and gables that emerge instead of forming a continuous frieze.
See reproduction →
The Vessenots
The fields occupy the foreground and make the houses appear as a border built between two expanses of plants.
See reproduction →
Wheat field with house
The dwelling becomes a compact landmark in the middle of large strips of cereals, instead of saturating the entire width.
See reproduction →
Plain near Auvers
The village fades away and the organization of the plots takes over. The gesture follows the cultures like a sensitive cartography.
See reproduction →
Street and stairs in Auvers
The slope is no longer observed from afar. Stairs, characters and facades transform the relief into a daily journey.
See reproduction →
Garden of Doctor Gachet
The vertical framing compresses flowers, branches and architecture. The density of the garden responds differently to that of the roofs.
See reproduction →Facts, hypotheses, legends
What can really be said
The proximity of Van Gogh's death attracts definitive accounts. However, the quality of an analysis here depends on the distinction between collection data, visual cues and interpretations.
| Question | Level | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Is the motif in Auvers? | Established | Yes, in Cordeville, a hamlet located on the edge of the town of Auvers-sur-Oise. |
| Is the table a double square? | Established | Yes. Its dimensions of 50.2 × 100.3 cm correspond to this panoramic format used in eleven paintings by Auvers. |
| Is it unfinished? | Very likely | The sky and some connections appear incomplete. The Tate and National Gallery describe it as unfinished or seemingly unfinished. |
| Is this Van Gogh's last painting? | Not demonstrated | It is probably among the last works, but the exact order is not established. The formula "second before the end" remains a hypothesis. |
| Does heaven announce his suicide? | Interpretation | Heaven can produce a feeling of oppression, but no source turns this painting into a coded farewell letter. |
| Are roofs imaginary? | No | Van Gogh works directly in front of the pattern, then transforms what he sees through the contours, color and compression of space. |
| Does the painting belong to the National Gallery? | Precision required | It is owned by the Tate, thanks to the 1933 C. Frank Stoop bequest, and is currently on loan to the National Gallery. |
Find the width of the pattern
Cottages on a hill in the store
The store's file uses the other French title of the work. It is indeed the same painting as Farms near Auvers, F 793 /JH 2114. Its ratio close to 1:2 requires a format that respects the panorama: a square crop would precisely eliminate the lateral circulation desired by Van Gogh.
For hanging, let both ends of the canvas breathe. Above a sofa, a low sideboard or a long console, its horizontal movement works particularly well. Muted greens, ochres and purples go well with ecru, greige, deep green or clay walls.
Where to see the original?
In London, on loan to the National Gallery
The work belongs to the Tate under number N04713. It entered the collections through the bequest of collector C. Frank Stoop in 1933.
At the time of this verification, it is loaned to the National Gallery in London, which indicates it in room 43 under loan number L711. A hanging may change, particularly for a loaned work: consult the official notice shortly before your visit.
Facing the original, look at three things that the screen reduces: the canvas visible in the sky, the difference in thickness between the walls and the contours, then the way the foreground keys change direction without becoming a drawing detailed cultures.
Continue in the store
Essential collections
These links lead to collections truly relevant to the painting: the artist, his Auvers period, landscapes, post-impressionist works and the great known paintings.
Read next
Extend Van Gogh's last period
Places, letters and chronology illuminate the work without replacing what the canvas shows. These articles allow us to move from the landscape to the documented whole of the period.
Van Gogh's houses
From Zundert to the Ravoux inn, all the stages of a life on the move.
AuversThe grave of Vincent and Theo
History, cemetery, access and landmarks for a respectful visit.
SourcesLetters to Theo
What they reveal about the work - and the limits of their interpretation.
CatalogHow many works?
Paintings, drawings, prints and catalog raisonné numbers.
Saint-RémyField enclosed by the rising sun
Another compressed landscape, observed behind the asylum wall.
SeriesThe Olives
The wind, the rhythm and the construction of the land before Auvers.
PortraitJoseph Roulin
How the contours monumentalize a face as they frame the roofs here.
MuseumVan Gogh Arles Foundation
A place for dialogue between the works of Van Gogh and contemporary artists.
Frequently asked questions
Understand everything about Farms near Auvers
Who painted Farms near Auvers ?
Vincent van Gogh painted this oil on canvas in Auvers-sur-Oise in July 1890, during the last weeks of his life.
Does the painting have another title?
Yes. We meet him under the titles Cottages on a hill, Cottages at the foot of a hill or, in English, Farms near Auvers and Thatched Cottages by a Hill.
Where was the pattern painted?
The view is located in Cordeville, a small hamlet on the edge of Auvers-sur-Oise, northwest of Paris.
What are the dimensions of the table?
The work measures 50.2 cm high by 100.3 cm wide. This ratio close to 1:2 corresponds to the "double square" format.
Why does the sky seem so heavy?
The high hill closes the horizon, while the strip of gray-blue sky remains little modulated. Oppression therefore arises as much from composition as from color.
Is the painting unfinished?
It is generally described as unfinished or apparently unfinished. The sky and some fittings on the upper right show a less resolute state than the houses and land.
Is this Van Gogh's last painting?
It is not demonstrated. It undoubtedly belongs to the group of latest paintings, but Van Gogh did not date each painting and their exact order remains uncertain.
Does the dark sky announce the death of Van Gogh?
This is a possible interpretation of the viewer, not a documented fact. The painting should not be presented as a coded suicide note.
How many double squares did Van Gogh paint in Auvers?
The exhibition dedicated to Auvers by the Musée d'Orsay and the Van Gogh Museum brought together a series of eleven elongated paintings in this unique format of his career.
Where is the original today?
The work is owned by Tate and is currently on loan to the National Gallery in London. The notice places it in room 43 at the time of our verification in July 2026.
What are its catalog numbers?
The painting is listed F 793 in the catalog of Jacob-Baart de la Faille and JH 2114 in that of Jan Hulsker. Its Tate number is N04713.
Is there a reproduction in the store?
Yes. The sheet bears the title Cottages on a hill - Vincent van Gogh, which designates the same work.
Verifiable sources
Collections, letters and catalog
The material data, the painted location and the state of the work come from institutional records. The Auvers chronology and the number of double squares are cross-checked with the Musée d'Orsay and the Van Gogh Museum.
National Gallery
Location, composition, unfinished state, dimensions and current hanging of the work loaned by the Tate.
Owner collectionTate N04713
Inventory number, legacy C. Frank Stoop and history of the painting's presence in the British collection.
Last monthsMusée d'Orsay
Chronology, 74 paintings, 33 drawings, agricultural hamlets, old thatched roofs and series of eleven double squares.
Exhibition searchVan Gogh in Auvers
Room texts on the village, the panoramic fields and the renewal of painting during the summer of 1890.
July 23, 1890Letter 902 to Theo
Latest known sketches: Daubigny garden, Chaponval fields and cottages.
Image and catalogsWikimedia Commons
High definition file of a work in the public domain, with references F 793 and JH 2114.
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