Piles of French novels

This picture is a study for a slightly larger work which Van Gogh named Romans parisiens (Parisian novels). It is an ode to modern French literature. Vincent was an admirer of French Naturalist writers as Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant. In his opinion, these authors ‘paint’ life ‘as we ourselves feel it.’ The books in this painting symbolised the contemporary life that he believed to have been captured so well by these authors.