View of the Sea at Scheveningen

Painted in August 1882 at Scheveningen on the Dutch coast, this sea view is one of Van Gogh's earliest known oil paintings, made when he was still a largely self-taught beginner. He braved a beach storm to paint the scene, and sand blown into the wet paint remains visible in the surface of the work. Van Gogh wrote to Theo about the difficulty and exhilaration of painting in the wind. The canvas reveals a young artist already committed to painting directly from nature under adverse conditions — a determination that would characterise his entire career. The work is held in Nuenen, Netherlands.

The palette is limited — grey-greens for the churning sea, pale grey and white for sky and foam — reflecting the restrained Dutch tonal tradition Van Gogh was working within at this early stage. Embedded sand particles create an unusual tactile surface. The broadly applied strokes convey the turbulence of the North Sea coast with raw immediacy.