Focus on La Mousmé and discuss the The painting.
Inspired by Pierre Loti's novel Madame Chrysanthème and Japanese artwork, van Gogh painted La  Mousmé, a well-dressed Japanese girl.  He wrote in a letter to his brother: "It took me a whole week...but I had to reserve my mental energy to do the mousmé well. A mousmé is a Japanese girl—Provençal in this case—twelve to fourteen years old."Van Gogh's use of color is intended to be symbolic.  The audience is drawn in by his use of contracting patterns and colors that bring in an energy and intensity to the work. Complementary shades of blue and orange, a stylistic deviation from colors of Impressionist paintings that he acquired during his exploration in Paris, stand out against the spring-like pale green in the background.  La Mousmé's outfit is a blend of modern and traditional. Her outfit is certainly modern. The bright colors of skirt and jacket are of the southern region of Arles.  Regarding van Gogh's painting of her features, his greatest attention is focused on the girl's face, giving her the coloring of a girl from Arles, but with a Japanese influence.  The young lady's posture mimics that of the oleander.  The flowering oleander, like the girl, is in the blossoming stage of life.Van Gogh said of portrait studies, such as La Mousmé, "the only thing in painting that excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else."The painting is part of the National Gallery of Art collection in Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. Pierre Loti Arles Japanese art Paris