The Décoration for the Yellow House was the main project Vincent van Gogh focused on in Arles, from August 1888 until his breakdown the day before Christmas. This Décoration had no pre-defined form or size; the central idea of the Décoration grew step by step, with the progress of his work. Starting with the Sunflowers, portraits were included in the next step. Finally, mid-September 1888, the idea took shape: from this time on he concentrated on size 30 canvases

French standard sizes for oil paintings

French standard sizes for oil paintings refers to a series of different sized canvases for use by artists. The sizes were fixed in the 19th century...

 (Toiles de 30), which were all meant to form part of this Décoration.

Third step and definite solution: The Toiles de 30-Décoration, October - December 1888

• For a related project by Van Gogh executed at the same time, in November/December 1888, see The Roulin Family (Van Gogh series)

Continuation

Later, in Saint-Rémy as well as in Auvers, size 30 canvases form the body of Van Gogh's work, and he continued conceiving series and groups of work based on this size. See The Wheat Field

The Wheat Field

The Wheat Field is a series of oil paintings executed by Vincent van Gogh in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. All of them depict the view Van Gogh had from the window of his bedroom on the top floor of the asylum: a field enclosed by stone walls just beneath his window and excluded from normal life by the...

, the Copies by Vincent van Gogh and the Display at Les XX 1890, all from Saint-Rèmy, and the Auvers size 30 canvases

Auvers size 30 canvases

In May 1890, on his arrival in Auvers-sur-Oise, Vincent van Gogh continued his work mainly with size 30 canvases, and created more than a dozen such paintings....

.