Two Cottages at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

In early summer 1888 van Gogh visited the Mediterranean fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where, as he wrote
to his brother, he hoped to " . . . get [his] drawings more spontaneous, more exaggerated." The spontaneity he hoped to
achieve is expressed in a vigorous, freely drawn graphite sketch that the artist then articulated with alternating thick and
fine strokes of a broad-nibbed reed pen. The drawing’s brisk, energetic execution indicates that it might have been made on
site.