When Vincent van Gogh lived in the South of France the trees made a big impression on him. With full focus and passion he ‘attacked’ the cypress and mulberry tree, trying to capture their expression in oil on canvas. It took time before Van Gogh actually dared to start on the olive tree.

In Arles in April 1889, just before he moved to the asylum in Saint-Remy he wrote to his brother Theo:

"Ah, my dear Theo, if you could see the olive trees at this time of year... The old-silver and silver foliage greening up against the blue. And the orangeish ploughed soil. It’s something very different from what one thinks of it in the north – it’s a thing of such delicacy – so refined. It’s like the lopped willows of our Dutch meadows or the oak bushes of our dunes, that’s to say the murmur of an olive grove has something very intimate, immensely old about it. It’s too beautiful for me to dare paint it or be able to form an idea of it.”

The courage to paint the olive tree.

Van Gogh moved into the asylum to recover form severe mental illness. This lead to a very productive period where he also found the courage to paint the beautiful but difficult olive tree.

To Theo on 28 September 1889:

"..the olive trees are very characteristic, and I’m struggling to capture that. It’s silver, sometimes more blue, sometimes greenish, bronzed, whitening on ground that is yellow, pink, purplish or orangeish to dull red ochre. But very difficult, very difficult. But that suits me and attracts me to work fully in gold or silver. And one day perhaps I’ll do a personal impression of it, the way the sunflowers are for yellows.”

Two months later Van Gogh wrote his friend and fellow artist Emile Bernard on 26 November 1889, while he was deep into the process of discovering his own way to paint the olive tree.

"So at present am working in the olive trees, seeking the different effects of a grey sky against yellow earth, with dark green note of the foliage; another time the earth and foliage all purplish against yellow sky, then red ochre earth and pink and green sky."

Van Gogh’s Olive Trees

Van Gogh did 15 paintings of olive trees. He observed them, was moved by them, studied them, overcame his fear and finally managed to paint them in his own typical style. Van Gogh’s olive trees are not as famous as his sunflowers, but they have definitely become hís olive trees.
Why did Van Gogh not dare to paint the olive tree
Our hand-painted reproduction of Van Gogh's 'Olive Grove'.

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun
Our hand-painted reproduction of 'Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun'.

What is your favorite olive tree painting?

On this page you see a selection of Van Gogh's olive trees we have replicated. Don’t hesitate to let us know if another one of his 15 olive tree paintings is your favorite. Just like Van Gogh our artists are very much intrigued by the colors of the olive tree and want to ‘attack’ all of his masterpieces and replicate them as good as possible in oil on canvas.

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      02-07-2020 15:01     Comments ( 1 )
Comments (1)
 Shahed Alshaar -  17-12-2021

. Itโ€™s like the lopped willows of our Dutch meadows or the oak bushes of our dunes, thatโ€™s to say the murmur of an olive grove has something very intimate, immensely old about it.