Shepherdess, The (after Millet)

Van Gogh's Shepherdess (after Millet) from 1889, now at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, continues his Saint-Rémy practice of translating Millet's prints into full color. The shepherdess tending her flock was among Millet's most celebrated pastoral subjects — the lone female figure in an expansive landscape, her vigilant attention connecting her to both the flock in her care and the landscape they inhabit. Van Gogh's version brings his warmest palette to this subject, identifying the pastoral tradition with the vitality and color of the south rather than Millet's cooler Barbizon tones.

The shepherdess figure is rendered with Van Gogh's empathetic directness, her posture of quiet watching captured with observational care. His version adds his characteristic color energy to Millet's composition — warm ochres and blues, the flock rendered as a mass of short, varied strokes. The landscape surrounding the figure is animated with his Saint-Rémy energy.