Vincent van Gogh: Still Life (Nature morte); Vincent van Gogh; May 1888; Oil on canvas; Van Gogh often called his still life paintings 'color studies.' Flowers in particular; arranged in different combinations and set against saturated fields of color; allowed him to experiment with new and bold chromatic relationships鈥攈ere; blue and yellow. Van Gogh painted this canvas in May; 1888; a few months after he had moved to the village of Arles in the South of France. Several still lifes from his Arles period feature the same objects depicted here鈥攖he blue majolica vase with painted decoration; and the white teacup. The spiky blue flowers appear to be Cleome; Van Gogh may have taken liberties with their color.; Overall: 21 11/16 x 18 3/16 in. (55.1 x 46.2 cm)