Vincent van Gogh – Marguerite Gachet in the Garden

Marguerite Gachet in the Garden is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in June 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise of Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of Dr Paul Gachet: a young woman in a white dress standing among white and yellow flowers in her family’s garden, with a tall dark tree on the left, potted plants and red roofs behind her and a pale sky above. The original, oil on canvas, measures 46 x 55.5 cm and is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.

Marguerite Gachet in the Garden – Vincent van Gogh

What does Marguerite Gachet in the Garden show?

A young woman in a long white dress stands a little right of centre, in the middle of a garden in full flower. Her hair is fair, painted in yellow, and the white of her dress is laid in short strokes touched with pale green and blue. Around her, and across the whole lower half of the canvas, the garden is a dense mass of yellow-green grass and leaves, scattered with white and yellow flowers set down as small dabs and curls.

On the left a tall, dark green tree shaped like a cypress rises almost to the top edge, and below it stand potted plants in orange-brown pots and one blue-green pot. Behind the figure are pale walls and red roofs, one left of centre and one at the right edge, and at the top right two dark masses of trees. The sky is pale, almost white, with curling strokes of blue cloud. Long curving strokes run through the grass, so that the whole garden seems to move around the still figure.

Who was Marguerite Gachet?

She was the daughter of Dr Paul Gachet, the doctor in Auvers-sur-Oise whose care Theo van Gogh had recommended to his brother. According to the French Wikipedia article on this painting, she was born in 1869 to Paul Gachet and Blanche Castets and was 21 when Van Gogh painted her in the family garden, although he believed she was 19. Her father was an amateur artist himself and a collector, with a particular liking for Renoir, Monet, Pissarro and Cézanne.

Van Gogh also painted her at the piano, a canvas that belongs to the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland. Marguerite Gachet never married and died in 1949.

What was Van Gogh painting in Auvers in 1890?

He settled in Auvers-sur-Oise, about 30 km north-west of Paris, on 20 May 1890. He wrote to Theo that he had found a true friend in Dr Gachet, ‘something like another brother’, so alike were they in body and in mind. French Wikipedia counts more than 70 canvases from the roughly 70 days he spent in the village before his death on 29 July 1890.

In a letter to his sister Wil, quoted in the same article, he wrote that he would spend a day or two with Gachet working in his garden, of which he had already painted two sketches: one with southern plants, aloes, cypresses and marigolds, the other with white roses, vines and a white figure among them. The Italian Wikipedia notes that this painting recalls the colours of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Where is the original today?

The original is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under the inventory number RF 1954 13. According to French Wikipedia, Van Gogh gave the painting to Dr Gachet, who kept it in his collection until his death in 1909. Marguerite and her brother Paul-Louis Gachet inherited it and gave it to the French state in 1954. It went to the Jeu de Paume museum in the Tuileries garden in Paris, and in 1986, when that museum closed, it was transferred to the Musée d’Orsay.

In 1954 it was shown in Paris in the exhibition Van Gogh et les peintres d’Auvers-sur-Oise, and in 1999 in an exhibition on the doctor’s collection that went from Paris to New York and Amsterdam.

Marguerite Gachet in the Garden or another Van Gogh – which should you choose?

Its four closest companions in our range were all painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in 1890. Portrait of Dr. Gachet shows Marguerite’s father, Dr Paul Gachet, the doctor who looked after Van Gogh in Auvers. The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise shows the church seen from behind under a deep blue sky. Landscape at Twilight sets two dark pear trees against a glowing yellow sky near Auvers, and Landscape at Auvers in the Rain shows the fields around the village under falling rain.

Choose this garden for a figure among flowers, the portrait for the doctor himself, the church for architecture and the two landscapes for open country at dusk or in the rain.

How is our hand-painted Marguerite Gachet in the Garden made?

The painter first sketches the figure, the tall dark tree on the left, the line of roofs and the potted plants, and checks the proportions against the original. Then comes the pale sky with its curling blue clouds, after it the dark trees, the walls and the red roofs, then the dense green of the garden in long curving strokes, and last the white dress, the fair hair and the white and yellow flowers set in as small dabs. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand 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 our version the relief shows most in the flowers, in the white of the dress and in the curving strokes of the grass. A print is completely flat; on our painting every brushstroke stands out in real paint.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 50 x 40 or 60 x 50 cm for a narrow wall in a hallway or beside a door, 90 x 75 or 100 x 80 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, and 120 x 100 or 150 x 120 cm above a sofa or on a large wall.

There are 17 sizes: 50 x 40, 60 x 50, 67 x 55, 70 x 56, 70 x 59, 74 x 61, 75 x 65, 80 x 66, 80 x 70, 85 x 72, 90 x 75, 100 x 80, 105 x 85, 110 x 90, 115 x 93, 120 x 100 and 150 x 120 cm (width x height). The original is 55.5 cm wide and 46 cm high, so our nearest size, 60 x 50 cm, is 4.5 cm wider and 4 cm higher, and 90 x 75 and 120 x 100 cm come close to its proportions. The yellow-greens, the white dress and the red roofs look best on a white, cream or light grey wall and sit well with natural wood. 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 top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.

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 you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.

Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A gold frame picks up the yellow flowers and the fair hair, while a white or a natural wood one goes with the pale sky and the white dress.

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 on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If it is a present and you are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Marguerite Gachet in the Garden today?

In the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under the inventory number RF 1954 13. Van Gogh gave the painting to Dr Paul Gachet, who kept it until his death in 1909. His children Marguerite and Paul-Louis Gachet inherited it and gave it to the French state in 1954. It went first to the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris and came to the Musée d’Orsay in 1986.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Marguerite Gachet in the Garden?

In June 1890, in Auvers-sur-Oise, north-west of Paris, in the garden of the Gachet family house. Van Gogh had settled in the village on 20 May 1890 and died on 29 July of that year. French Wikipedia places the painting a month before his death, among the more than 70 canvases he made in Auvers.

Who is the young woman in Marguerite Gachet in the Garden?

Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of Dr Paul Gachet, the doctor who looked after Van Gogh in Auvers. She was born in 1869 and was 21 when he painted her, though he thought she was 19. He shows her in a long white dress among the flowers of the family garden. She never married and died in 1949.

Did Van Gogh paint Marguerite Gachet more than once?

Yes. Besides this garden scene he painted her at the piano, a canvas that belongs to the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland. Both were painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in 1890, in the last weeks of his life. The garden scene is the one in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and it is the one we paint by hand in oil on canvas.

What did Van Gogh write about Dr Gachet’s garden?

In a letter to his sister Wil he wrote that he would spend a day or two with Gachet working in his garden, of which he had already painted two sketches. One had southern plants, aloes, cypresses and marigolds; the other had white roses, vines and a white figure among them. French Wikipedia quotes the letter in its article on this painting.

How big is the original Marguerite Gachet in the Garden?

46 cm high and 55.5 cm wide, a small landscape format. Our nearest size, 60 x 50 cm, is 4.5 cm wider and 4 cm higher than the original. There are 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm, and we also paint it to measure in any proportions.

Which size of Marguerite Gachet in the Garden suits a living room?

Above a sofa, choose 120 x 100 or 150 x 120 cm, so that the canvas painting covers a good part of the width of the sofa and the white figure reads clearly from across the room. On a narrower wall or above a sideboard, 90 x 75 or 100 x 80 cm works well.

Does your Marguerite Gachet in the Garden have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, building up each brushstroke in thick oil, so the surface is raised like Van Gogh’s original. You see this best in the dabs of the white and yellow flowers, in the white of the dress and in the long curving strokes of the grass, where the relief catches the light from the side.

• Subject: Dr Gachet’s daughter Marguerite in a white dress among white and yellow flowers in the family garden at Auvers, with a dark tree, potted plants and red roofs.
• Original: June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, oil on canvas, 46 x 55.5 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: each painting is made to order, so allow 15 to 45 days, and our 3D app lets you try every frame on this painting before you order.