The Influence of Japan on the Work of Van Gogh

Last spring, the Van Gogh museum held an exhibition dedicated to the artist’s Japanese influences. Van Gogh owned a vast collection of ukiyo-e prints (600 to be precise), which had already been put on display back in 1971. These delicately coloured works were a huge source of fascination and inspiration to Van Gogh in his work as a painter.

Van Gogh became so bewitched by their enchanting aesthetic that he positioned himself as an artist from the Japanese tradition even before the term ‘Japanism’ emerged in art criticism in 1872.

His collection of prints had a considerable impact on his career as an artist, as can be seen from his Sower with Setting Sun and Almond blossom, which display the conventions of Japanese works.

Beyond flora, fauna and landscapes, Van Gogh, ever the perfectionist, also took up the techniques seen in Japanese engravings, which were characterised by their flat tints of colour and diagonal lines. Van Gogh thus created a unique style which communicates his enchantment with Japan and his Utopian Japanese ideal.