The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy)

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy) as painting (Netherlands · 1889).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

Van Gogh sometimes created what he called "repetitions," in which he painted the same subject and composition again. This painting has a repetition, currently in the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Conservation research has shown that the Cleveland painting is the first version.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this painting as oil on fabric and credits Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890).

The museum's collection notes: Like Two Poplars in the Alpilles near Saint-Rémy (on view nearby), Vincent van Gogh painted this autumnal landscape while living in a psychiatric hospital near Saint-Rémy in southern France where he was treated for severe depression. Understanding that painting from nature eased his symptoms, Van Gogh’s physician permitted the artist to paint landscapes outside. Van Gogh described this painting in a letter to his brother Theo: “The last study I did is a view of the village, where they were at work under some enormous plane trees—repairing the pavements. . . . There are heaps of sand, stones, and the gigantic trunks—the leaves yellowing and he

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtThe Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy)

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