1889 · Saint-Rémy, rhythm and southern light

Cabins, field, Alpilles and yellow sky show how Van Gogh paints the olive tree as a moving shape: knotted trunk, silver foliage, colorful shade and distant relief.

Van Gogh painted numerous olive groves during his stay in Saint-Rémy in 1889, often in dialogue with his cypresses and wheat fields. The Wooden Cabins among the olive trees and cypresses introduce a discreet human presence into a terrain crossed by rhythms. The Field of Olive Trees extends the trees in a network without a single center, each trunk responding to the movement of the ground. The Olives with the Alpilles in the background connect the gnarled foreground to the blue silhouette of the mountains. In Olives with yellow sky and sun, the atmospheric color becomes almost cosmic: yellow, green and purple describe not just an hour, but an intensity. Van Gogh observes the real tree while using its twist to liven up the entire surface. The "Oliviers de Van Gogh" selection notably compares Wooden cabins among olive trees and cypresses and Field of olive trees. His reading favors drawing.

The olive tree suits Van Gogh because it already seems to be drawing: each branch is a line that resists the wind.