For a long time, “The Vineyard at Arles” was believed to be the only painting sold by Van Gogh during his lifetime. After the Brussels exhibition in 1890, Anna Boch, an impressionist artist, bought it for 400 francs, which was a significant amount of money for the painter. It is now known that Van Gogh actually sold a few other paintings as well.

Vincent Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France in February 1888, having grown tired of Paris and wanting to improve his health. In Arles, he quickly started to feel worse. This is where he cut off his ear and was taken to an asylum. Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo: 

The way Van Gogh depicts the sun demonstrates how he is different from his fellow impressionists. He is not interested in light effects. Rather, he paints the sun in a way never seen by the human eye: with a clear-cut disc and concentric rays. If we accept the dramatic metaphor of the emotional fire conveyed by the intense red and orange colors of the sun, then the blue and violet colors in the lower part of the painting can be considered ashes. The figures of Arlesian women gathering grapes are a symbol of labor as a Biblical service.

The high line of the horizon is a characteristic feature of the late artworks by Van Gogh. Sometimes it is associated with the influence of Japanese art.

Van Gogh painted his landscapes quite quickly, which is why they seem like studies. It was one of the reasons for his argument with Gauguin, who needed to carefully sit, place his easel, prime his canvas, and then start his painstaking work. Van Gogh often worked with his fingers and applied colors directly from tubes. This also explains why some parts of the canvas remained clean. He never tried to follow technology and cover the whole painting with colors. Van Gogh just painted what he wanted, and if some areas were still empty, it did not bother him.