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Trees, Montmajour, 1888
In July 1888 Van Gogh returned to the rough and rocky grounds of Montmajour in the company of Lieutenant Milliet. The terrain put the artist strongly in mind of the abandoned garden ‘Le Paradou’ (a Provençal word for ‘Paradise’), which featured in Emile Zola’s novel The Sin of Abbé Mouret. The importance of the Montmajour drawings to Van Gogh was reflected in his choice of large-format Whatman paper.
Pen, reed pen on wove paper
Collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tournai