Farms near Auvers or Thatched Cottages by a Hill is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh that he painted in July 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.[1][2] The painting is an example of the double-square canvases that he employed in his last landscapes.[3]
Van Gogh spent the last few months of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town just north of Paris, after he left an asylum at Saint-Rémy in May 1890.[4] Shortly after arriving at Auvers, Van Gogh wrote his sister Wil: "Here there are roofs of mossy thatch which are superb, and of which I’ll certainly do something."[5] The painting appears to be unfinished. It is similar to Thatched Cottages and Houses, a painting thought to have been executed shortly after arrival at Auvers.[6]
In 1933 the painting was bequeathed by C. Frank Stoop to the Tate Collection in London, though it is currently on loan to The National Gallery.[6][7] It was painted the same month Van Gogh died.
^Brooks, D. "The Paintings: The Auvers-sur-Oise Period". The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. David Brooks (self-published). Retrieved 16 February 2011.