Ravine with a Small Stream

Van Gogh painted Ravine with a Small Stream in October 1889 during his voluntary confinement at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The Alpilles mountains surrounding the asylum offered dramatic, rugged terrain that he explored obsessively during periods when he was permitted to work outdoors. Ravines fascinated him — their enclosed, steep-sided forms concentrated light and shadow in ways that allowed maximum painterly intensity. This work belongs to a group of rocky landscape paintings from the Saint-Rémy period that show Van Gogh pushing toward an almost abstract expressiveness in his handling of rock, water, and foliage forms.

Van Gogh's characteristic short, energetic brushstrokes follow the forms of rock and vegetation separately, creating a textured surface in which every element vibrates with directed mark-making. The small stream provides a horizontal counterpoint to the predominantly vertical thrust of the ravine walls closing in above.