Why it matters
Van Gogh painted a young Provençal girl seated in a cane chair with a sprig of oleander, calling her a mousmé: in his words 'a Japanese girl, Provençal in this case'. Inspired by Pierre Loti's novel Madame Chrysanthème, it reflects his hope that Arles would give his work the expressiveness of Japanese art.
Did you know?
- It was painted in 1888 in Arles.
- In under 444 days in Arles he produced more than 200 paintings.
- He called Arles 'the Japan of the south'.
Based on the Wikipedia article La Mousmé (CC BY-SA 4.0).
