Vaugirard Church by Night

Vaugirard Church by Night is an early work from Gauguin's years as a Parisian Sunday painter, probably dating to the late 1870s or very early 1880s before he left the brokerage house. The Vaugirard quarter in the 15th arrondissement was where Gauguin lived at various points, and the local church provided a familiar urban motif. Nocturnal city scenes were uncommon in his output — the vast majority of his pre-Pacific work involves landscapes or figures — making this an unusual document of his early urban Impressionist practice before the Breton and tropical subjects that define his reputation.

The nocturnal palette relies on contrasts of lamplight orange against dark blue-black sky and buildings. The paint handling is loose and atmospheric, close to the work of Jongkind and early Monet in its capturing of artificial illumination on wet urban surfaces. The architecture is indicated with economic strokes rather than precise drawing.