Vincent van Gogh – Bulb Fields

Bulb Fields is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in The Hague around 1883: long, straight beds of flowering bulbs in white, yellow, pink, red and blue run across a flat Dutch field towards two thatched farmhouses and a few bare trees, under a grey, cloudy sky. The original, oil on canvas mounted on wood, measures 48.9 x 66 cm and belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which calls it Flower Beds in Holland. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 205 x 164 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

Bulb Fields – Vincent van Gogh

What does Bulb Fields show?

A flat Dutch field, seen from low down. Long rectangular beds run from the bottom edge of the canvas into the distance, each one planted with a single colour: white and yellow on the left, a deep pink bed in the middle, and pale blue and lilac on the right, with thin red and pink strips further back. Narrow green paths run between the beds.

Behind the flowers stand two farmhouses with heavy thatched roofs, one on each side, and a few bare trees. A small figure in dark clothes walks among the beds, the only person in the scene. Above it hangs a wide grey sky of soft clouds, almost half of the painting.

Why was Bulb Fields once called Tulip country?

Because the field looks like Dutch tulip country. According to the English Wikipedia article on the painting, it was shown in 1902 at the Kunstzalon Oldenzeel in Rotterdam under the title Tulpenland, Dutch for Tulip country, even though the flowers in the beds are hyacinths.

Wikipedia describes them as plots of blue, yellow, pink and red hyacinths grown by a Dutch bulb merchant. The National Gallery of Art calls the painting Flower Beds in Holland.

What does Bulb Fields mean?

It is an early step for Van Gogh as a painter. Wikipedia calls it his first garden painting, made in his second year in The Hague, years before he went to the south of France. The low viewpoint gives a wide, panoramic view of the field, and the regular rows let him work on a problem he was studying closely at the time: perspective, the way parallel lines meet as they run into the distance.

That is why it looks so different from the Van Gogh of Arles. Here the colour lies in calm, flat bands under a grey Dutch sky, and the painting is grouped with Realism. The bright, swirling colour of his years in Arles and Saint-Rémy came only later, after he left the Netherlands.

Where does the original hang, and how did it get there?

The original belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which lists it as Flower Beds in Holland, c. 1883, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 48.9 x 66 cm, under accession number 1983.1.21, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. In the Van Gogh catalogues it carries the numbers F186 and JH361.

Its route there was long. According to Wikipedia, Van Gogh probably left it with other early works at his family’s house in Nuenen in 1885, and it went with his mother and sister to Breda in 1886. A carpenter, Adrianus Schrauwen, stored their things and in 1902 sold it with other “rubbish” to the merchant J.C. Couvreur. Paul Mellon bought it from the Knoedler gallery in 1955 and gave it to the museum in Washington in 1983.

Bulb Fields or another Van Gogh – which should you choose?

This painting is a bright, orderly landscape from Van Gogh’s Dutch years. Two of its closest companions in our range come from the same Dutch period, painted later in Nuenen. The Potato Eaters of 1885 shows a peasant family at their evening meal in deep browns, and Lane of Poplars at Sunset is an avenue of poplars in the Nuenen countryside.

The other two are flowers from his last years in France: Irises, painted in Saint-Rémy in 1889, and Almond Blossom, painted there in 1890. Choose the bulb fields for stripes of spring colour, The Potato Eaters for dark, earthy tones, and the irises or the almond blossom for the strong colour of his French years.

How is our hand-painted Bulb Fields made?

The painter first draws the horizon, the farmhouses and the lines of the beds, and checks the proportions against the original, so that the stripes run together into the distance at Van Gogh’s angle. Then come the grey sky and the clouds, after them the thatched roofs and the trees, then the beds one colour at a time, the green paths, and last the small figure. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand in oil on canvas with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.

On this painting the relief shows most in the dabs of colour that make up the flowers, in the thatch of the roofs and in the clouds. A print shows only a flat surface; on our painting the strokes are real.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same. Before dispatch we photograph it, sending you the photograph to approve.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 50 x 40 or 63 x 48 cm for a small wall in a hallway, a kitchen or beside a window, 80 x 60 or 90 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, and 120 x 90 or 150 x 105 cm above a sofa. For a large open wall, 180 x 135 up to 205 x 164 cm turns the field into a view.

There are 17 sizes: 50 x 40, 60 x 40, 60 x 43, 63 x 48, 70 x 50, 70 x 53, 80 x 60, 90 x 70, 110 x 75, 120 x 90, 125 x 97, 139 x 100, 150 x 105, 150 x 118, 180 x 135, 190 x 150 and 205 x 164 cm (width x height). The original is 66 cm wide and 48.9 cm high, so our 63 x 48 and 70 x 53 cm sizes are close to the painting in Washington, and 80 x 60, 120 x 90 and 180 x 135 cm keep its proportions almost exactly. The stripes of colour sit under a grey sky, so the painting looks good on a white, light grey or soft green wall and in daylight. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, leave 20 to 30 cm between the furniture and the bottom edge.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 17 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure in any width and height you need. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.

For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows each of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – the application is for choosing the frame only. Seeing the painting on your own wall is our separate room placement service. A natural wood or white moulding keeps the fresh spring mood, while a narrow gold one picks up the yellow beds and the warm thatch.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve, and we correct anything that is not right. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more famous Van Gogh paintings among all our Van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a present, for spring, a new home or a garden lover, and are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Bulb Fields today?

In the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which lists it as Flower Beds in Holland, c. 1883, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 48.9 x 66 cm. It came to the museum in 1983 as a gift from Paul Mellon, who had bought it in 1955, and it belongs to the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Its catalogue numbers are F186 and JH361.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Bulb Fields?

In The Hague, around 1883. The National Gallery of Art dates it c. 1883, and Wikipedia places it in early 1883, in Van Gogh’s second year in The Hague, about five years before he moved to Arles. It is one of his early oil paintings, made while he was still living in the Netherlands, and it shows a Dutch subject in Dutch light.

Are the flowers in Bulb Fields tulips?

Most likely not. Wikipedia describes the beds as plots of blue, yellow, pink and red hyacinths grown by a Dutch bulb merchant. The tulip idea comes from 1902, when the painting was shown in Rotterdam as Tulpenland, Tulip country, although the flowers are hyacinths. The museum’s title, Flower Beds in Holland, does not name the flower at all.

Was Bulb Fields Van Gogh’s first garden painting?

Yes, according to Wikipedia, which calls it his first garden painting, made in oil on canvas mounted on wood. Flowers came back in his work many times: the irises of Saint-Rémy in 1889 and the almond blossom of 1890 came much later. Here the flowers are not a bouquet but a whole field, planted in long beds of single colours.

Why does Bulb Fields look so different from Van Gogh’s later paintings?

Because it is an early Dutch work. It was painted around 1883 in The Hague, under a grey northern sky, and Wikipedia groups it with Realism. The thick swirling strokes and blazing colour that made him famous came after he moved to France. What is already here is his eye for colour, laid out in calm stripes across a flat field.

Why is Bulb Fields also called Flower Beds in Holland?

Because that is the title the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which owns the painting, uses. Bulb Fields is the other common English title, after the flower bulbs grown in the beds. In 1902 it was also exhibited in Rotterdam as Tulpenland. All three names describe the same canvas of about 49 x 66 cm.

How big is the original Bulb Fields?

48.9 cm high and 66 cm wide, a medium landscape format. Our 63 x 48 and 70 x 53 cm sizes are close to that, and 80 x 60, 120 x 90 and 180 x 135 cm keep the same proportions. If you want the flower field as a large canvas painting, there are 17 sizes up to 205 x 164 cm, as well as custom sizes in any proportions.

Which size of Bulb Fields suits a living room?

Above a sofa, choose 120 x 90 or 150 x 105 cm, so that the painting covers about two thirds of the width of the sofa. On a narrower wall or above a sideboard, 80 x 60 or 90 x 70 cm is enough. On a long empty wall, 180 x 135 cm or larger makes the stripes of colour read like a window onto the field.

Does your Bulb Fields have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint our flower field in impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original. You see it best in the small dabs of colour that make up the hyacinths, in the thatched roofs and in the clouds, where the relief catches the light. A print cannot have this relief, because its surface is flat.

• Subject: a flat Dutch field of flowering bulbs in long beds of white, yellow, pink, red and blue, thatched farmhouses and bare trees on the horizon, a grey cloudy sky.
• Original: c. 1883, The Hague, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 48.9 x 66 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 205 x 164 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.