Van Gogh · Arles · October 1888
The Green Vine: before the red, the structure of a Provençal vineyard
The Green Vine is one of the paintings where Van Gogh transforms a vineyard near Montmajour into living architecture: rows of vines, tiny figures, blue sky, touches of yellow, mauve and orange.
We know better The Red Vine, often surrounded by the history of its sale. However, the green version is essential: it shows the construction site before the conflagration, the composition before the chromatic drama, the vine as a structure rather than as a simple decoration.
Short answer
Why is Green Vine important?
Because it shows Van Gogh at the moment when he organizes Provence into plans, lines and colorful vibrations. The subject is simple - a vineyard with grape pickers - but the canvas becomes a living grid: green is never uniform, it is crossed by yellow, purple, light blue and orange. Before The Red Vine, Van Gogh finds the framework of the motif here.
A constructed landscape
The rows of vines create a structure that holds the whole picture together.
Colors in tension
Green heats up with small touches of yellow, mauve, red and orange.
A work scene
The figures of grape pickers give scale and prevent the landscape from becoming abstract.
The prelude to red
The canvas mentally prepares the chromatic explosion of The Red Vine.
Visual reading
Six details to understand the composition
The Kroeller-Müller Museum recalls that Van Gogh painted this vineyard near Montmajour, not far from Arles, and that he then spoke of an enormous” green, purple and yellow vine. This magnitude comes less from the size of the pattern than from the network of lines which carries the image.
The rows of vines
They are not only descriptive: they organize the depth and give the painting its almost musical rhythm.
The very blue sky
It stabilizes the composition and vibrates the greens, yellows and purples of the earth.
The red figures
Umbrellas and grape pickers punctuate the surface like warm accents in a green score.
The thick material
In the foreground, the paint becomes more pasty: the vine is as much a texture as a landscape.
Arles skyline
The distance keeps a clear line: farms, silhouettes and sky prevent the canvas from closing in on itself.
Joy under effort
Van Gogh describes a great ardor for work, but also a real difficulty: the painting retains this tension.
Face to face
The Green Vine and The Red Vine: same world, two temperatures
Comparing the two canvases avoids a misinterpretation: The Green Vine is not a weak version of The Red Vine. It is another response to the same motif, more architectural, less flamboyant, but very rich in its construction.
Kroeller-Müller · 1888
The green structure
The painting is based on strips of vegetation and earth. Multiple colors enliven this framework without destroying it.
The gaze advances through the ranks: we first read the organization of the vineyard, then the figures, then the sky and the buildings.
Pushkin Museum November 1888
The Red Catching Fire
In The Red Vine, the pattern becomes almost incandescent. The sun, the earth and the vine blend into a more dramatic atmosphere.
The composition remains solid, but the color takes on more power. The vineyard is no longer just organized: it seems to burn.
Comparative table
What changes between green, red and landscapes of Provence
Van Gogh does not copy a place: he experiences it. The same areas around Arles sometimes become harvest, sometimes vine, sometimes luminous plain.
| Work | Date and place | Collection | To remember |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Green Vine | Around October 3, 1888, near Montmajour | Kroeller-Müller Museum, Otterlo | The vine is structured by rows; the color enriches a very readable construction. |
| The Red Vine | November 4, 1888, Arles /Montmajour | Pushkin Museum, Moscow | The scene becomes an incandescent sunset; reds and oranges dominate. |
| Harvest in Provence | June 1888, Arles | Israel Museum, Jerusalem | The Provençal landscape is lighter, more geometric, carried by the yellows of the harvest. |
| Harvest in Provence, Montmajour on the left | 1888, Arles | Fogg Art Museum/Harvard Art Museums | The motif shows how Montmajour serves as a landmark in the Arlesian landscapes. |
Gallery
Images to replace The Green Vine
Here are the essential visual cues: the work itself, its red sister, a harvest near Montmajour and a real photo of the site.
The reproduction highlights the rows, green touches and warm accents of the vineyard.
The Red Vine helps to understand how Van Gogh moves from a green structure to solar vision.
The harvest landscapes show the same territory: a Provence organized by fields, paths and horizons.
Real photo
Montmajour, the landmark behind the vineyard
The photo doesn't exactly show the point of view of the painting, but it gives the context: Montmajour is located near Arles, in a landscape of fields, roads and low lines that Van Gogh traveled extensively in 1888.
Montmajour Abbey recalls the real setting where Van Gogh observes, walks and transforms the Provençal countryside into painting.
Why the real picture helps
Van Gogh does not paint “a Provençal decor”
He paints a very concrete territory: fields around Arles, roads, silhouettes of farms, modest reliefs, open sky. The strength of The Green Vine comes from this double fidelity: the painting keeps the landmarks of the place, but it condenses them into writing keys.
The vineyard almost becomes a construction plan. The vines function like lines, the grape pickers like points, the houses like a horizon. This is why the work holds even before the red explosion: it already has its skeleton.
In the store
Related reproductions and collections
The links below point to the products and collections actually present in the store.
Green vine - hand painted reproduction after Vincent van Gogh.
The Red Vine - the fiery version to compare with the green structure.
Harvest in Provence - another Arlesian landscape structured by fields.
Auvers Vineyards - the vine taken up in the painter's last weeks.
Van Gogh Arles: cafes, fields, bridges, gardens and landscapes from 1888.
Van Gogh landscape: countryside, cypresses, fields, plains and horizons.
Sources
References used
Factual information comes from museum records and free image pages viewed for the article.
Official notice of By groene wijngaard : date, dimensions, KM number 104.607 and context.
Wikimedia CommonsFree image of The Green Vineyard, works in the public domain.
Wikimedia CommonsFree image of The Red Vineyard, Pushkin Museum, with catalog markers.
Wikimedia CommonsHarvest in Provence, at the left Montmajour, Arlesian landscape from 1888.
Real photoFree photography of Montmajour Abbey near Arles.
Alpha ReproductionSupplementary article: The Red Vine, history, sales and analysis.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about La Vigne verte
Useful points to avoid confusion between title, date, place and sister work.
When did Van Gogh paint The Green Vine?
The Kroeller-Müller Museum dates the work around October 3, 1888. Van Gogh was then in Arles and painted in the vicinity of Montmajour.
Where is La Vigne verte today?
The painting is kept at the Kroeller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands, under number KM 104.607.
Is The Green Vine the same work as The Red Vine?
No. These are two separate works from 1888. The Green Vine places greater emphasis on vineyard structure; The Red Vine is dominated by the glowing effect of the sunset.
Why talk about” “structure for a vineyard?
Because the rows of vines, the diagonals and the small characters organize the canvas like architecture. Van Gogh doesn't just paint vines: he builds a rhythm.
Before red, Van Gogh already built fire
The Green Vine is less famous than The Red Vine, but it allows us to better understand Van Gogh in Arles: a painter who looks at the countryside as an organized energy. The vines become lines, the figures become accents, the color becomes matter. Red will come next; here, everything is already ready.
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