Tree Roots - Misplaced Pages

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Tree Roots

Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Year	1890
Catalogue	F816 JH2113
Medium	Oil on canvas
Movement	Post Impressionism
Dimensions	50.0 cm × 100.0 cm (19.7 in × 40.6 in)
Location	Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Tree Roots is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh that he painted in July 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. Likely Van Gogh's final painting, it is an example of the double-square canvases that he employed in his last landscapes.

Background

Van Gogh spent the last few months of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town just north of Paris, after he left an asylum at Saint-Rémy in May 1890. The painting is considered by some to be his last painting before his death late July 1890.

Jan Hulsker considers it the most original of his double-square canvases. The viewer thinks he can identify tree roots and trunks, but is hard put to identify the subject as a whole. Van der Veen and Knapp comment that in this painting, as also in Undergrowth with Two Figures, the painting itself and not the subject is pre-eminent, heralding abstract painting and German expressionism.

In 1882, while at The Hague, Van Gogh had made a study of tree roots, Study of a Tree (below), which he had completed at the same time as a larger version (now lost) of Sorrow. In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh said that he wanted to express something of life's struggle in these drawings. It is not known whether he had returned to the same thoughts with his 1890 Tree Roots. The letters give no hint and the colours are perhaps too bright for such sombre thoughts.

On April 14, 1991 Tree Roots was stolen from the Van Gogh museum along with 19 other paintings. Tree Roots was successfully recovered.

In 2020, Wouter Van der Veen, scientific director of Institut Van Gogh determined the probable location where the painting was made, based on an historical postcard, to be on the rue Daubigny in Auvers-sur-Oise. He confirmed his finding with a historical photograph from circa 1907 in 2021. The location is about 150 metres from Auberge Ravoux, Van Gogh's hotel at the time.

Undergrowth with Two Figures, oil on canvas 50 x 100, late June 1890 (F773, JH2041).
Tree roots in a sandy ground ('Les racines'), pencil, black chalk, brush in ink, brown and grey wash, opaque watercolour on watercolour paper, April–May 1882, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (F933, JH142).
Post Card rue Daubigny, around 1910

Works

^ "Tree Roots, 1890". Van Gogh Museum.
Brooks, D. "Undergrowth with Two Figures". The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. David Brooks (self-published).
"Tree roots in a sandy ground ('Les racines')". Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12.
Brooks, D. "Tree Roots in a Sandy Ground ("Les Racines")". The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. David Brooks (self-published).

Letters

^ "Letter 222: To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 1 May 1882". Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. Paragraph 5. I wanted to express something of life's struggle ... in those gnarled black roots with their knots.
"Letter 891: To Theo van Gogh. Auvers-sur-Oise, Tuesday, 24 June 1890". Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. Note 10. ... one that makes a pendant of undergrowth, lilac trunks of poplars ...
"Letter 896: To Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, Wednesday, 2 July 1890". Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. Note 5. Then undergrowth, violet trunks of poplars which cross the landscape perpendicularly like columns ...

References

van der Veen, Wouter; Knapp, Peter (2010). Van Gogh in Auvers: His Last Days. The Monacelli Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-58093-301-8.
de la Faille, Jacob Baart (1970). The works of Vincent van Gogh. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff. p. 307. OCLC 300160639.
^ Hulsker (1980) p. 476
Naifeh, Steven; White Smith, Gregory (2011). Van Gogh: The Life. Profile Books. p. 822 ff. ISBN 978-1-84668-010-6.
van der Veen and Knapp (2010) pp. 164, 242
Sheppard, Felicity. "Number Three – recovered artwork". KeyStone.
"Van Gogh: Postcard helps experts 'find location of final masterpiece'". BBC News. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
Boffey, Daniel (28 July 2020). "Place depicted in Van Gogh's final painting found with help of postcard". The Guardian.

Bibliography

de la Faille, Jacob-Baart. The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1970. ISBN 978-1-55660-811-7
Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. ISBN 978-0-71482-028-6
Naifeh, Steven; Smith, Gregory White. Van Gogh: The Life. Profile Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84668-010-6
van der Veen, Wouter; Knapp, Peter. Van Gogh in Auvers: His Last Days. Monacelli Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-58093-301-8

External links

Tree Roots at the Van Gogh Museum website
Media related to Tree roots by Vincent van Gogh at Wikimedia Commons

Vincent van Gogh

General

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 The Mulberry Tree
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

Watercolours

Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle (1881)
Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg (1882)
The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague (1882)
Church Pew with Worshippers (1882)
Woman on Her Deathbed (1883)
Landscape with Trees (1883)
Peatery in Drenthe (1883)
Landscape with Wheelbarrow (1883)
Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam (1883)
Breton Women (1888)
Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman (1890)

Drawings

Museums

Portrayals

Family

Cataloguers

Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 and 1970; "F")
Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; "JH")

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