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Catalogue numbers: F 571, JH 1392.
The three versions of the views of the Langlois bridge offer a new interpretation of an old subject, one that is ablaze with colour. His interpretation of a bridge over the Rhône canal south of Arles took on the familiar idyllic quality of genre scenes. Two of the versions (F 397 and F 571) are only very slightly different. Van Gogh had climbed down the canal bank to watch the washerwomen at their work beside a wrecked barge. He saw their figures in the familiar stooped postures we remember from his digging women in the Dutch paintings. For the third version (F 570) van Gogh has taken up his position on the opposite bank. Down by the water, not immediately apparent in front of the wall, is one solitary washerwoman, but now the track that crosses the bridge is busier: we see a horse and cart and a woman figure with an umbrella crossing the bridge.
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