A Crab on its Back, Van Gogh

Oil painting titled "A Crab on its Back", painted in 1888 by Vincent van Gogh. The artist avoided going out in the open when the weather was very cold and rainy; on one of those days, Vincent conceived this work. Driven by the desire to imitate figures he had seen in Japanese art lithographs (an artistic influence that in the West is called "Japonism"), he went further. He wanted to show how the light was reflected on the shell; the result is a work with many details of the animal. It is currently located in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.