Adouble-square painting is a painting made on uncommonly largecanvases, which have onedimension that is twice the size of the other.Vincent van Gogh used 50 cm × 100 cm (20 in × 39 in) double-squares almost exclusively during the final weeks of his life inAuvers, in June and July 1890.[1] Other artists who have painted double-square canvases includeCharles-François Daubigny,Puvis de Chavannes,[2] andIvon Hitchens.
In a double-square painting, one dimension of the canvas is twice the size of the other, so that the canvas is the shape of two adjoining squares. The overall effect of this is stability, and thecompositional challenge is to avoidmonotony.[further explanation needed]
Prior to Van Gogh, artists such as Charles-François Daubigny and Puvis de Chavannes[2] had used canvases of similar proportions, and Van Gogh was aware of this.
Vincent van Gogh used double-squares almost exclusively during the final weeks of his life inAuvers, in June and July 1890.[1] To arrive at this size, Van Gogh combined the legs of twostandard sizes: the 50 cm leg from a size 12 and the 100 cm leg of a size 40stretcher. The result was adouble-square of 50 cm × 100 cm (20 in × 39 in), and from this size, easily thesquare could be derived by using two 50 cm legs. His choice of this size points into another direction from previous artists; hisdouble-squares can easily be combined withsize 30 canvases to more elaborateddécorations,[further explanation needed] and hissquares extend these possibilities.
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Ivon Hitchens worked primarily in double-squares at certain periods in his career.