Van Gogh's Starry Night Over the Rhone 1888 at the Musee d'Orsay

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) painted for only a short period, but left a large body of work. During his lifetime, he saw little recognition or financial success. Today, the Musée d'Orsay holds one of the strongest collections of his paintings, with works from key periods of his career.

The museum, on the banks of the Seine, includes twenty-seven Van Gogh paintings. This selection focuses on ten works that stand out within the collection.

Starry Night Over the Rhone – 1888

"To express hope by a handful of stars," Vincent wrote to his brother Theo while working in Arles in 1888. Starry Night Over the Rhone comes from this period, when he was painting along the river near the Yellow House on Place Lamartine.

The composition is built around reflections, with gaslights along the quay stretching across the water and the sky held in deep blue and yellow contrasts. Two small figures at the lower edge give the scene its scale. The painting predates his stay at Saint-Rémy, where he later painted the more widely known Starry Night.

Self Portrait – 1889

This self-portrait marks a shift in Van Gogh’s work during his time in Saint-Rémy. The palette moves toward cooler blues and greens, replacing the brighter tones of his earlier Provençal paintings.

The surface is tightly worked, with controlled brushstrokes across the jacket and background, while the face holds a more restrained expression. The painting was later kept by the family of Dr. Gachet before entering the museum’s collection.

Portrait of the Artist – 1887

Van Gogh painted more than thirty self-portraits between 1886 and 1889. He often used himself as a model rather than hiring one, noting in a letter to his sister that it was simply less expensive.

These works were painted using a mirror, which reverses his features. The result is the image that has come to define how he is recognized today.

La Méridienne – 1889

Van Gogh painted La Méridienne while he was in the asylum at Saint-Rémy, where access to new subjects was limited. During this period, he made more than thirty works after artists he admired, including Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Doré, Émile Bernard, Virginie Demont-Breton, and Japanese printmaker Hiroshige.

Jean-François Millet was especially important to him. Twenty-one of Van Gogh's works were inspired by Millet, including this painting, based on Millet's Noonday Rest. Van Gogh kept the basic composition but transformed it through color, using strong violets and yellows to give the quiet rural scene a sharper intensity.

Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles – 1888

"When I saw my canvases again after my illness, what seemed to me the best was the bedroom," Vincent wrote to Theo in 1889.

Painted in October 1888, while he was living in the Yellow House in Arles, the work reflects his interest in color and structure rather than realism. He simplified the forms, flattening perspective and using strong outlines to hold the composition together.

Van Gogh made three versions of the painting. The first was damaged by water, the second is now in Chicago, and the third is at the Musée d'Orsay.

Portrait of Dr Gachet – 1890

"I would love to paint portraits, which in a hundred years will seem like ghosts to those who see them." Vincent wrote this while working on his late portraits, and Portrait of Dr Gachet carries that idea clearly. The doctor sits against a deep blue background, his head resting on his hand, the pose simple but heavy with fatigue.

Van Gogh’s relationship with Gachet was unsettled from the start. In a letter to Theo he wrote, "I think that we must not count on Dr. Gachet at all… he is sicker than I am." Yet only days later, writing to his sister Wilhelmina, he described him as a true friend, "something like another brother." That shift in feeling sits just beneath the surface of the painting.

The portrait was completed in Auvers-sur-Oise in the final months of Van Gogh’s life. He painted two versions of the work, keeping the composition but adjusting the color and handling. One of them later sold at auction in 1990 for $82.5 million, but the version at the Musée d'Orsay remains the more immediate of the two.

L'Arlésienne – 1888

Vincent van Gogh painted six similar paintings in Arles in November 1888. The title refers to a woman from Arles, and his model, Marie Jullian, ran the Café de la Gare on Place Lamartine, where he stayed while preparing the Yellow House for Gauguin’s arrival.

In a letter to Theo, he described the painting: "I have an Arlésienne at last… slashed out in an hour, background pale lemon, the face grey, the clothes black, deep black, with unmixed Prussian blue. She is leaning on a green table and seated in an armchair of orange wood."

The pose is still, but the color does the work, holding the painting together through strong blocks rather than shading or depth.

Fritillaires Couronne Impériale – 1887

Fritillaries are bulb flowers related to lilies, and in this Paris painting Van Gogh begins to work with the color and surface that define his later still lifes. The brushstrokes are thick and visible, and the palette moves toward the stronger yellows and oranges he would develop more fully in Arles.

The painting dates from his time in Paris, when he encountered the Impressionists and shifted toward a lighter, more color-driven approach. Of the roughly 900 works he produced, Van Gogh signed only about 130. Fritillaires Couronne Impériale is one of them.

Eugène Boch – 1888

"I very much like the looks of this young man with his distinctive face… and his green eyes," Vincent wrote to Theo in 1888, describing the Belgian painter Eugène Boch, whom he met in Arles.

He quickly formed the idea for a portrait, writing that he wanted to paint "an artist friend, a man who dreams great dreams," and to convey his appreciation for him as directly as possible. Rather than placing him in an interior, Van Gogh set the figure against a deep blue field, replacing the room with an open, almost infinite space.

Van Gogh called the painting The Poet, and kept it in his bedroom in the Yellow House. The figure remains simple and direct, with the intensity carried by the color and the contrast between the face and the background.

The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise – 1890

After leaving Provence, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, where he came under the care of Dr Gachet. In the final months of his life, he worked quickly, producing a large number of paintings in a short period.

The church dominates the composition, set against a deep blue sky, with paths splitting in the foreground and curving around the building. The structure is recognizable, but the lines shift and tilt, giving the scene an unsettled quality.

Van Gogh painted the church only once. The result is less a record of the building than a study in color and movement, with the contrast between the dark structure and the surrounding ground holding the painting together.

Visit Auvers-sur-Oise & Giverny

Auvers-sur-Oise is a short distance from Paris, and the village remains closely tied to Van Gogh’s final months. The church, the surrounding fields, and the cemetery where he is buried are all within walking distance.

Some guided day trips combine Auvers with Giverny, pairing Van Gogh’s last works with Monet’s house and gardens. The route follows two different approaches to landscape, seen in the places where they worked.

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