Entrance to a Quarry near Saint-Rémy

Van Gogh's Entrance to a Quarry near Saint-Rémy, painted in 1889, depicts the dramatic limestone quarry near the asylum whose rock faces and interior spaces he found visually compelling. The quarry entrance — a dark opening into the hillside, the limestone walls flanking the opening with their geological stratification — provided him with both strong formal material and a subject that carried metaphorical weight: the entrance into enclosed underground space resonating with his own experience of confinement. The work is currently unlocated or in private hands.

The quarry entrance creates a strong dark opening within the composition, the limestone walls rendered with Van Gogh's characteristic attention to geological texture and color. His palette captures the warm ochres and cool shadows of the limestone interior. The brushwork on the rock faces is particularly varied, distinguishing different rock surfaces and their relationship to the available light.