Oleanders

Van Gogh painted this still life of oleanders in Arles in August 1888, a few weeks after he moved into the Yellow House. He was 35 years old and in one of the most productive periods of his life, producing canvases at a rate of one every two or three days. The painting shows a ceramic vase overflowing with pink oleander blossoms on a table. Beside the vase lie two books: Emile Zola's La Joie de Vivre and a copy of Shakespeare's plays. The flowers fill almost the entire canvas, their green leaves and pink petals painted in thick, twisting strokes that barely contain the composition. The background is a warm yellow-green, painted with the same energetic brushwork. Van Gogh chose oleanders deliberately. In Provence, they grew everywhere: in gardens, along roadsides, in the courtyards of Arles. He wrote to his brother Theo that he found them joyous and indestructible, blooming through the hottest months when other flowers had given up. The pairing with Zola's novel was not accidental. La Joie de Vivre is about a woman who finds meaning in nature and physical labor, and Van Gogh saw in the oleanders the same relentless vitality that Zola described. The books on the table are painted with as much care as the flowers. Van Gogh was a voracious reader throughout his life, and he often included books in his still lifes as portraits of the mind. The two volumes here represent the two literatures he cared about most: the French naturalist novel and the English Renaissance drama. He had been reading both since his early twenties, when he worked as a clerk in a bookshop in Dordrecht and later as a preacher in the Borinage. Oil on canvas, 60 by 74 centimeters. The paint is applied thickly throughout, with impasto ridges that catch the light. The pinks range from pale coral to deep magenta, built up in layers over a yellow underpainting that gives the flowers their warmth. The green leaves are painted in pure chrome green mixed with white, without the darker tones that a more academic painter would have used. The warm palette and horizontal format make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or kitchen. The pinks and greens pair with natural wood, linen, and warm white walls. The 16x20 or 18x24 size captures the density of the brushwork. The subject of flowers and books suits rooms where people actually spend time: a reading chair, a breakfast table, a sunroom. The painting entered the Met's collection in 1962, gifted by Mr. and Mrs. John L. Loeb. It is one of several Arles still lifes in the Met's collection. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), scanned from the original at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.