Vincent van Gogh – Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun is the painting Vincent van Gogh made at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1889: twisted olive trees on orange-ochre ground, blue-violet mountains between them and a large pale sun in a yellow sky. The original measures 73.7 x 92.7 cm and belongs to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in the United States. 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 to approve before dispatch.

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun – Vincent van Gogh

What does Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun show?

The painting shows an olive grove in Provence in full sunlight, with rows of old trees crossing the canvas. Their trunks are short, thick and twisted, painted in dark red-brown, and their crowns are a mass of short blue-green and turquoise strokes. The ground beneath them glows orange and ochre, crossed by long bands of violet-blue shadow and pale, stony patches that run diagonally towards you.

In the middle of the painting, between the crowns, a range of pale blue-violet mountains rises against the sky. Above it all hangs a large, pale yellow sun ringed with orange, and the whole sky around it is built of short yellow and white strokes that circle the disc like rings on water. There are no people, no houses and no road: only the trees, the earth, the mountains and the light.

Why did Van Gogh paint olive groves at Saint-Rémy?

In May 1889 Van Gogh entered the asylum of Saint-Paul near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence at his own request, and he stayed there until May 1890. Outside the walls he painted what grew nearby: olive trees, cypresses and wheat fields. The Minneapolis Institute of Art writes that this is one of fifteen canvases of olive trees he made between June and December 1889.

The olive trees did not come easily. In his letters he called them demanding and compelling, wrote that he was struggling to catch them, and said that the rustle of an olive grove has something very secret in it, and immensely old. When Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard each painted Christ in the Garden of Olives, Van Gogh found that in their paintings nothing was observed. He wrote that he would not paint a Christ in the Garden of Olives, but the olive harvest as one might see it today.

What do the yellow sky and the sun mean?

The Minneapolis Institute of Art notes that the vibrant oranges and yellows suggest the work dates to the autumn months, and Wikipedia dates it to November 1889. According to the same article, the olive groves he painted that November grew out of his attempt to express his feelings about Christ in Gethsemane, the garden of olives, without painting Christ himself: he bathed the olive trees, an emblem of Jesus, in radiant gold light.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, quoted there, says that in the olive trees Van Gogh found a manifestation of the spiritual force he believed resided in all of nature. In his own words, olive trees were too beautiful for us to dare to paint.

Where does the original hang?

The original belongs to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minnesota, in the United States. The museum lists it simply as Olive Trees, 1889, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/2 in., which is 73.66 x 92.71 cm, under accession number 51.7. Among its alternative titles are Olive Trees with Yellow Sun and Sky and Olive Orchard with Mountains and Sun Disk.

The museum’s credit line names The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, through which it entered the collection, and Wikipedia gives it the number F710 in the catalogue of Van Gogh’s work.

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun or another olive grove – which to choose?

Of the olive paintings in our range, this is the warmest: yellow, orange and turquoise, with the sun at the top. Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background, also painted at Saint-Rémy in 1889, is cooler: green trees under a blue sky with a large pale cloud and dark blue, rocky mountains. The Olive Orchard shows women picking olives from a ladder among silver-green trees under a pale sky.

From Saint-Rémy in 1889 come The Starry Night, the night sky over the village, and Cypresses, another tree he found near the asylum. Choose this painting for warmth and sun, the Alpilles version for blue and green, The Olive Orchard for figures, and The Starry Night for night.

How is our hand-painted Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun made?

The painter first sets out the horizon, the mountains and the rows of trunks, then lays in the yellow sky in circling strokes around the sun, the orange ground with its violet shadows and finally the blue-green crowns of the trees. 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 on the original and catch the light.

The first photograph shows our finished painting in a narrow silver-grey frame, seen from the front on an easel in our workshop. The second photograph shows the same painting from the right, and the third from the left, so you can see how the strokes of the sky and the ground catch the light at an angle. The fourth photograph is a close-up of the sun and the sky, where the thick, raised paint is easy to see.

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 of Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun for which wall?

Short answer: 70 x 55 or 80 x 60 cm above a chest of drawers, a desk or a bed in a smaller room, 120 x 95 or 130 x 106 cm above a sofa or a sideboard, and 150 x 120 cm for a large empty wall. The landscape format suits a living room, a dining room, a hallway or a bedroom.

There are 17 sizes: 50 x 40, 60 x 50, 70 x 55, 80 x 60, 80 x 66, 90 x 70, 93 x 75, 100 x 82, 110 x 83, 120 x 90, 120 x 95, 125 x 97, 130 x 106, 135 x 109, 140 x 113, 145 x 116 and 150 x 120 cm (width x height). The original is 92.7 cm wide and 73.7 cm high; our 93 x 75 cm size is the closest to it, so the painting on your wall is almost exactly as large as the one in Minneapolis. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it. With so much yellow and orange, it brings warmth to a white, cream or light grey wall, and it also works on a deep blue or green wall that picks up the trees and the mountains.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, and leave 20 to 30 cm between the furniture and the lower 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. Keep the proportions close to the original, otherwise the sun and the rows of trees get squeezed or stretched. 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 – the application is for choosing the frame only. Seeing the painting on your own wall is our separate room placement service. A narrow silver frame, as in the first photograph, keeps the yellow fresh; a gold or warm wooden frame picks up the orange earth. To look after it, keep it out of direct sun and away from radiators, and dust it now and then with a soft, dry brush.

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 in our Vincent van Gogh gallery, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a gift and are unsure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun today?

In the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minnesota, in the United States. The museum lists it as Olive Trees, 1889, oil on canvas, 73.66 x 92.71 cm, under accession number 51.7, with The William Hood Dunwoody Fund named in its credit line. Wikipedia lists it as F710.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun?

In 1889 at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in the south of France, while he was living at the asylum of Saint-Paul at his own request. Wikipedia dates it to November 1889; the Minneapolis Institute of Art gives the year 1889 and notes that the vibrant oranges and yellows suggest the autumn months. His subject was the olive groves near the asylum.

What is the meaning of Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun?

It can be read as a painting about nature and faith. According to Wikipedia, the olive groves Van Gogh painted in November 1889 grew out of his wish to express his feelings about Christ in the garden of olives without painting Christ himself, and he bathed the trees in radiant gold light. The National Gallery of Art saw in his olive trees the spiritual force he believed resided in all of nature.

Why did Van Gogh paint Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun?

Because the olive groves lay within reach of the asylum at Saint-Rémy, and because they challenged him. He wrote that he was struggling to catch them and that the rustle of an olive grove has something very secret in it, and immensely old. Rather than a biblical scene, he wanted to paint olive trees from life.

How many olive paintings are there like Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun?

About fifteen. The Minneapolis Institute of Art calls this one of fifteen canvases of olive trees that Van Gogh made between June and December 1889, and Wikipedia says he produced at least 15 paintings of olive trees, mostly at Saint-Rémy in 1889: three in June, others in September and December, and five by late November. The series is described on Wikipedia.

How big is the original Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun?

The original is 73.7 cm high and 92.7 cm wide, a landscape format that hangs well above a sofa, a sideboard or a dining table. Our 93 x 75 cm size is practically the same, and there are smaller and larger sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm, as well as paintings made to your own measurements.

Is Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun a good painting to give as a gift?

It is a warm, bright gift that suits many homes: a sunny living room, a kitchen or a dining room, a house by the sea, someone who has spent summers in Provence or grows olives, or anyone who wants a bright canvas painting full of sunlight. If you are unsure of the size, a voucher lets the recipient choose it.

Does your Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint our copy 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 circling strokes of the sky around the sun, as in the fourth photograph, and in the crowns of the trees and the furrowed ground. A print cannot have this relief, because its surface is flat.

• Subject: an olive grove at Saint-Rémy, with twisted trunks on orange earth, blue-violet mountains and a large sun in a yellow sky.
• Original: November 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 73.7 x 92.7 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Art.
• 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: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.