Two Crabs

Two Crabs was painted in January 1889, during the period between the Yellow House crisis and Van Gogh's voluntary admission to Saint-Rémy. Crabs had been subjects for Hokusai, whose prints Van Gogh knew and admired, and the choice reflects his ongoing engagement with Japanese art. But there is also something personal in the image — the crab's hard shell, its defensive posture, its sideways movement — that resonates with Van Gogh's own vulnerable but defended state during this difficult winter. The work is now in the National Gallery, London, one of very few Van Gogh works in that collection.

Van Gogh renders the crabs from multiple angles — one upright, one inverted — examining the shell's structure and colour with forensic intensity. The carapace is built up with varied strokes that capture both the hardness of the shell and the iridescent colour of the animal, set against a warm, loosely handled background.