The Olive Trees by Vincent Van Gogh Magnet

The Olive Trees by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1889, is a landscape painting of the gnarled forms of an olive orchard aggressively growing from the swirling forms of hilly, sandy soil against a background of undulating hills under a dark blue sky and eerie, flattened white clouds. Painted in thick brushstrokes of brilliant, impasto oil paints, the picture captures the forms and movements of trees, landscape and sky with thick, dark outlines that follow the contours of expressionistic, undulating forms. Van Gogh painted a series of olive trees while undergoing treatment at the asylum in Saint Remy, in the Provence region of the south of France, and this version is a companion piece to his famous Starry Night painting. The painting reveals the expressive power of the artist before nature that developed in the mature, Post-Impressionist that Van Gogh created in the final years of his life. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and intense, heightened colours. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh’s early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in sombre earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to colour and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.