Still Life: Two Red Herrings

Van Gogh's Still Life: Two Red Herrings (1889) was painted during his period in the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence — one of many still lifes he produced there as mental exercises during periods of relative stability. The humble subject — two salted herrings — connects to his Dutch working-class roots and to the Dutch still life tradition he had absorbed in Nuenen and The Hague. At Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh turned repeatedly to simple still life subjects when the anxiety of working outdoors or with models was too great, using them to maintain his practice during the difficult periods between breakdowns.

The two herrings are rendered with Van Gogh's Saint-Rémy intensity: the characteristic thick, swirling brushwork that gives his late still lifes an almost sculptural quality. His palette here is relatively restrained — the specific red-orange of salted herring against a neutral or dark ground — but the application of paint is anything but restrained. Each stroke is visible and directional, building the fish's form through accumulated marks that convey both physical presence and the emotional intensity that characterized all his late work.