The Siesta

The Siesta (La Méridienne, also known as La Sieste) was painted by Vincent van Gogh while he was interned at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, between December 1889 and January 1890. The composition is taken from a drawing by Jean-François Millet for his series Four Moments in the Day, which van Gogh knew through a wood engraving by Jacques-Adrien Lavieille. It shows two peasants resting in the shade of a haystack at midday, with their sickles and shoes set aside in the foreground. Van Gogh remained faithful to Millet's original composition while translating it into his own idiom, building the scene from contrasting complementary colours of blue-violet and yellow-orange. He regarded such copies not as imitation but as interpretations 'in another language, that of colours.' Despite the peaceful subject, the painting radiates van Gogh's characteristic intensity. It is held in the permanent collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.