Pavement 18: Van Gogh

In the Phillips Collection, an art gallery of late nineteenth and twentieth century art in Washington DC there is a striking painting by Van Gogh called The road menders (1889). This painting, in part, lends a little credence to my recent interest in the pavement works that took place in Stoke Newington, N16, last year. I’m not the only one with an interest in pavement works.

The construction works to the right of the quintessentially Van Gogh gnarled trees are a symbol of modernisation in this simple town scene, where the old ladies go about their business as normal on the existing track (without falling over). The big pavement slabs are lined up ready to be put into place – a scene many Londoners know too well. I am sure Van Gogh’s workers were not just making a pavement for the comfort of push chairs or in the name of street improvement, but it is the same drive for modernisation. The deployment of workers, delicately sketched in this painting, uprooting the environment to improve it for residents.