The Stevedores in Arles

Van Gogh painted the stevedores unloading coal barges on the Rhône at Arles in August 1888, finding in their repetitive labour the kind of subject he associated with Millet's peasant workers translated into an urban industrial key. He described the scene to Theo as 'twenty men unloading coal' in precise, almost documentary terms, and the painting is unusual in his Arles period for its concentration on collective physical labour rather than landscape or portrait. The rhythmic procession of workers across the inclined gang-plank gave him a formal problem in depicting repeated human figures in coordinated action.

The figures carrying coal sacks are rendered as dark, compressed silhouettes against the lighter background of the quay and sky. The repeating rhythm of the procession is the primary compositional device. The palette is unusually restrained for Arles — dominated by dark umber and grey — reflecting the industrial subject matter.