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The Olive Trees, 1889
When Van Gogh worked beyond the hospital at Saint-Rémy in early summer 1889, he was delighted by the olive trees seen against the Alpilles. They became a focus in his aim to capture his ‘Impressions of Provence’ — a series of pictures through which he would transform reality into an expressive ideal. The rhythmic stylisation of the earth, trees and mountains and the form of a massive cloud above were probably all painted in the studio.
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs John Hay Whitney Bequest, 1998