Landscape with Rabbits

Landscape with Rabbits, at the Van Gogh Museum and dated to 1889 in the database, is an unusual work in Van Gogh's output — an outdoor landscape with small animal figures that connects to the Barbizon pastoral tradition of Troyon and Dupré, both of whom he had admired since his earliest artistic development. Constant Troyon's landscapes with cattle and rabbits were among the canonical works of French naturalist landscape painting, and Van Gogh's awareness of this tradition is evident in his occasional inclusion of livestock or wildlife in his outdoor scenes. The rabbits in this landscape are indicated with a few rapid strokes — more impressionistically suggested than carefully rendered — in a painting that appears to be a relatively spontaneous outdoor study rather than a composed studio work. The Van Gogh Museum's attribution and dating place this among the many smaller, exploratory works that surrounded his larger, more fully resolved compositions.

Loose, impressionistic handling with green and ochre tones building the landscape. The rabbits are indicated with a few rapid marks in pale grey-white rather than carefully modelled. The overall handling is spontaneous and sketch-like, suggesting a rapid outdoor study.