A touch of love: The marine drawings of Vincent van Gogh

by Barista Uno | Mar 26, 2023 | Maritime Art, Culture and History

Vincent van Gogh left behind more than 1,100 drawings when he died at age 37 on 29 July 1890. Sadly, but not surprisingly, they have been eclipsed by the splendid colours and well-deserved fame of his ‘The Starry Night’ and other oil paintings.

Drawing was a large part of Van Gogh’s artistic life. He put his heart into it, sometimes at great emotional cost. To give his drawings the attention they deserve is to do justice to the man and his legacy.

The following are some of Van Gogh’s marine-related drawings. They show his unique skill with line and form, but, equally important, his love for fishermen and others who work on the water. The quotes included are excerpts from his letters to his brother Theo van Gogh as published on the website, Van Gogh’s Letters: Unabridged and Annotated.

I want to make drawings that touch some people.

— Vincent van Gogh (letter to Theo van Gogh, written on 21 July 1882 in The Hague)

Sand Barges Moored at the Quay, Arles, 1887
Reed pen and brown ink, graphite on cream wove paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Surf (also known as ‘Boats at Sea, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer), 1888
Reed pen and ink over graphite on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Differently
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Fishing Boats at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1888
Pen and ink and pencil on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri

There are laws of proportion, of light and shadow, of perspective, which one must know in order to be able to draw well; without that knowledge, it always remains a fruitless struggle, and one never creates anything.

— Vincent van Gogh (letter to Theo van Gogh written on 1 November 1880 in Brussels)

Sailing Boat on the Seine at Asnieres, 1887
Pencil on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of WikiArt: Visual Art Encyclopedia

The Langlois Bridge, 1888
Ink and graphite on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Bank of the Rhone at Arles, 1888
Ink on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of WikiArt: Visual Art Encyclopedia

Sheet 2 of a letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh with sketches of Fishing Boats on the Beach and Rooftops
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), The Hague, 26 July 1882
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour, on paper
Courtesy of Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

It was in these depths of misery that I felt my energy revive and I said to myself, I shall get over it somehow, I shall set to work again with my pencil, which I had cast aside in my deep dejection, and I shall draw again, and from that moment I have had the feeling that everything has changed for me, and now I am in my stride and my pencil has become slightly more willing and seems to be getting more so by the day.

— Vincent van Gogh (letter to Theo van Gogh written on 24 September 1880 in Cuesmes)

Shell fisherman, date uncertain
Pencil and chalk on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Sketch of bending woman with a fishing net, 1883
Pen and ink on paper
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Courtesy of Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation

Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh with sketch of Beach with People Strolling and Boats (cropped)
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), The Hague, 22 October 1882
Pen and ink on paper
Courtesy of Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)