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Blossoming Chestnut Branches
Oil on canvas. 72.5 x 91 cm.
Painted in 1890 at Auvers-sur-Oise, De la Faille 820. |
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Provence, the "French Japan", had not fulfilled van Gogh’s hopes. It brought him disappointment and illness. Beginning in February 1890 he turns over plans to return to the more congenial north, well aware that it will be his last stop. His always helpful brother Theo recommends him to Dr. Paul Gachet, the physician and friend of painters at Auvers-sur-Oise. After a brief stay in Paris, he arrives there on May 21. The little village with ist low cottages, then still thatched, on the slopes of the valley of the Oise, makes him feel at home. He can resume his painting where Pissarro and Cézanne had worked. Coming from the south, he enjoys the spring a second time. The chestnut trees along the road are just blossoming. He paints the old trees with their showy blossoms, and breaks off the branches in order to paint them along with rhododendron in a vase that is merely hinted; the heavy tassels lean over, and in formal contrast to the spreading leaves, they crowd the surface of the picture. Japanese influence is evident here too, especially as the artist, eschewing the representational, puts the blossoming twigs on a bluish-green, vibrantly structured background.
The painting is acquired by Dr. Paul Gachet, who cares for van Gogh until the end but cannot save him from the worst suffering.
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