Peach Trees in Blossom

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Peach Trees in Blossom is an 1899 painting by Vincent van Gogh. It is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art.^[1] The painting depicts a field with peach trees on the outskirts of Arles with the Alpilles mountains in the background.^[1] The painting was intended as a homage to Japanese landscape prints which influenced Van Gogh.^[1] It was created a few months after he had severed his ear and during a mentally unstable period in which he was still a patient at the men's hospital in Arles.^[1]

Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo van Gogh in April 1889 about his work on the painting, and subsequently included a sketch of the work in a letter to Paul Signac sent on 10 April 1889.^[1]

History

Peach Trees in Blossom was bought by the Belgian artist Anna Boch in 1891 for 350 francs (equivalent to £14 in 1891 and equivalent to £1,931 in 2023).^[1] It was next acquired in 1927 by Samuel Courtauld for £9,000 (equivalent to £678,561 in 2023).^[1] The painting was hung by Courtauld in the Etruscan Room of his house in Portman Square in Marylebone.^[1]

The painting was lent by Courtauld to an exhibition in the Village Hall of Silver End in Essex in 1935, as part of a project called 'Art for the People' to broaden public access to works of art.^[1] In a 1935 letter to Lady Aberconway, Courtauld recalled that a recent drive through the countryside of Kent reminded him of the painting with its "bright green grass & blossoming fruit trees & the newly washed sky & water glistening everywhere".^[1] The work presently hangs in the Great Room of the Courthald Institute of Art.^[1]

On 30 June 2022 two protesters from Just Stop Oil glued themselves to the frame of the painting and caused £2,000 of damage to it.^[2] Both were found guilty of causing criminal damage to the painting, one was found jailed for three weeks and the other received a suspended sentence.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "The story behind the exuberant spring landscape Van Gogh painted just weeks after slashing his ear". The Art Newspaper. 22 April 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b "TJust Stop Oil: Pair guilty of damaging Van Gogh painting's frame". BBC News. 22 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.

Vincent van Gogh

General

Biography
List of works
List of drawings
Chronology
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
Health
Auberge Ravoux
Death
Nazi looting of artworks by Vincent van Gogh
Posthumous fame
Cultural depictions
Lost Arles sketchbook

Groups of
works

Early works (1881–82)
Portraits (1881–1890)
Peasant Character Studies (1881–1885)
Van Gogh's family in his art (1881–1888)
Sien (1882–83)
Cottages (1883–1885)
Water Mill at Gennep (1884)
Still life paintings, Netherlands (1884–85)
Old Church Tower at Nuenen (1884–85)
Amsterdam (1885)
Wheat Fields (1885–1890)
Le Moulin de la Galette (1886)
Still life paintings, Paris (1886–87)
Montmartre (1886–87)
Self portraits (1886–1889)
Outskirts of Paris (1887)
Asnières (1887)
Seine (1887)
Japonaiserie (1887)
Sunflowers (1887–1889)
Trees and Undergrowth (1887–1890)
Copies by Vincent van Gogh (1887–1890)
Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888)
Saintes-Maries (1888)
Boats du Rhône (1888)
Décoration for the Yellow House (1888)
The Roulin Family (1888–89)
Hospital in Arles (1888–89)
Flowering Orchards (1888–89)
Almond Blossoms (1888–1890)
Paintings of Children (1888–1890)
The Wheat Field (1889)
Reaper (1889)
Olive Trees (1889)
Wheat Fields (1889)
Butterflies (1889–90)
Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (1889–90)
Auvers size 30 canvases (1890)
Auvers Double-squares and Squares (1890)
Lost works by Vincent van Gogh
Display at Les XX, 1890

Oil paintings

1882	Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather Girl in White in the Woods Lying Cow A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background
1883	Cows in the Meadow Farmhouses Among Trees Bulb Fields Landscape with a Church at Twilight Landscape with Dunes Footbridge across a Ditch Marshy Landscape A Wind-Beaten Tree Farm with Stacks of Peat Farmhouses in Loosduinen near The Hague at Twilight Three Figures near a Canal with Windmill
1884	Two Rats Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen Landscape with Pollard Willows Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox Lane in Autumn Water Mill at Opwetten Water Mill at Kollen Village at Sunset Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Avenue of Poplars at Sunset Head of an Old Farmer's Wife in a White Hat
1885	Still Life with Straw Hat The Potato Eaters Peasant Woman Digging Peasant Woman Digging Up Potatoes Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette
1886	Vase with Red Poppies Vase with White and Red Carnations The Kingfisher
1887	Poppy Flowers Wheat Field with a Lark View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic Portrait of Père Tanguy A Woman Walking in a Garden Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Red Cabbages and Garlic
1888	Madame Roulin and Her Baby Landscape with Snow La Mousmé The Zouave Still Life: Vase with Oleanders The Night Café The Yellow House Van Gogh's Chair Café Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhône Portrait of the Artist's Mother Bedroom in Arles The Painter on the Road to Tarascon Les Alyscamps A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles Falling Autumn Leaves L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) Les Arènes Interior of a Restaurant in Arles A Lane near Arles Arles: View from the Wheat Fields Sunset at Montmajour Farmhouse in Provence Orchard with Cypresses
1889	Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Portrait of Doctor Rey Crab on its Back Two Crabs Irises Lilac Bush The Starry Night The Gardener Self-portrait (1889) Self-portrait without beard Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul A Road at Saint-Remy with Female Figure Enclosed Field with Peasant Rain Cypresses Wheat Field with Cypresses Green Wheat Field with Cypress The Diggers The Ravine of the Peyroulets Ivy View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint-Rémy The Large Plane Trees
1890	The Siesta Road with Cypress and Star At Eternity's Gate Thatched Cottages and Houses Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers Houses at Auvers White House at Night Landscape with a Carriage and a Train Girl in White The Church at Auvers Daubigny's Garden Farms near Auvers The Cows The Town Hall at Auvers Blossoming Chestnut Branches Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses Portrait of Adeline Ravoux Plain near Auvers Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds Wheatfield with Crows Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) Tree Roots Landscape at Auvers in the Rain Poppy Field