Description
View of Arles, Flowering Orchards is the landscape Vincent van Gogh painted in Arles in the spring of 1889: through a row of tall poplar trunks you look across a green meadow and a canal to orchards white with blossom, and behind them to the roofs and towers of the town. The original, oil on canvas, measures 73.5 x 92.5 cm and belongs to the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 landscape sizes from 40 x 30 to 170 x 134 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | View of Arles, Flowering Orchards |
| Other titles: | Blick auf Arles · Vue d’Arles, vergers en fleurs |
| Painter: | Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) |
| Year painted: | Spring 1889, Arles |
| Original size: | 73.5 cm x 92.5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Post-Impressionism |
| Located at: | Neue Pinakothek, Munich (inv. 8671) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 16 sizes or made to measure |
View of Arles, Flowering Orchards – Vincent van Gogh
What does View of Arles, Flowering Orchards show?
Three tall tree trunks stand across the front of the painting, one at each side and one in the middle. They are painted in blue and violet, knotted and twisted, and thin orange and yellow shoots rise from them without a single leaf. Below them lies a strip of green meadow, with long strokes of grass and a narrow band of water.
Behind the trunks the orchards fill the middle of the canvas: rows of fruit trees covered in white and pale pink blossom, with a small figure working between them. Further back come the town’s houses, a yellow wall with a red roof, and on the left a dark tower against a pale, almost white sky. The whole view is seen through the trees, as if through a fence.
Which part of Arles does the painting show?
According to the English Wikipedia article on the painting, Van Gogh looked across a canal and the poplars on its bank towards the historic centre of Arles. On the left rise the towers of Saint-Trophime and of the Collège Saint-Charles; on the right stands the newer Caserne Calvin, the barracks of the Zouave regiment.
The same article notes that poplars still line the canal today, while the orchards and the barracks have gone. The painting is therefore also a record of the edge of Arles as it looked in 1889, when fruit gardens still reached up to the town.
What does View of Arles, Flowering Orchards mean?
The Neue Pinakothek reads the painting as a garden seen from outside. In its description the town, the place of human community, is surrounded by an almost paradisal garden in full bloom, painted in light, luminous colours. At the same time the water and above all the “grid” of poplar trunks with their bare shoots tell us that the way into this paradise is closed to the painter.
The museum sets it beside an earlier view of Arles from May 1888, painted among meadows of yellow and violet flowers, which it calls a Japanese dream. In the museum’s reading, the outbreak of his illness and the attacks that followed had destroyed that dream in the year between the two. The light palette and small brushstrokes show the influence of the Impressionists, but the museum stresses how closely Van Gogh tied the landscape to people.
Where does the original hang?
The original belongs to the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is catalogued with the Neue Pinakothek in Munich as Blick auf Arles, 1889, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 92.5 cm, under the inventory number 8671.
It came to Munich in 1912 as a gift from Emy Roth, made as part of the Tschudi donation. Before that, Van Gogh himself chose it for the works he sent to the Les XX exhibition in Brussels in 1890, so it was shown in public while he was still alive.
View of Arles, Flowering Orchards or another Van Gogh – which should you choose?
View of Arles, Flowering Orchards is a spring landscape of white blossom, green grass and blue-violet trunks, calm in colour but full of movement in its strokes. Among our other famous Van Gogh paintings, Almond Blossom is the closest in mood: flowering branches against a clear blue sky, seen from much nearer.
The Yellow House shows his house in Arles under a deep blue sky, Starry Night over the Rhône shows the river at night with gas lamps and stars, and Les Alyscamps shows an avenue in Arles in autumn colour. Choose the orchards for a fresh, light room, Almond Blossom for a bedroom, and The Yellow House or Starry Night over the Rhône for stronger colour.
How is our hand-painted View of Arles, Flowering Orchards made?
The painter first draws the three trunks and the line of the horizon and checks the proportions against the original, so that the town sits exactly where Van Gogh saw it between the trees. Then come the sky, the meadow and the water, after them the orchards in short dabs of white and pink, and last the trunks with their orange shoots, painted over everything as they are in front of everything. 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 this painting the relief shows most in the blossom, where each dab of white sits on the surface like a small petal, in the long strokes of the grass and along the twisted bark. 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: 64 x 50 or 70 x 55 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, 93 x 74 or 100 x 80 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 145 x 113 or 170 x 134 cm for a long wall in a large living room or a dining room. The landscape format suits wide furniture and walls that are wider than they are high.
There are 16 sizes: 40 x 30, 50 x 40, 64 x 50, 70 x 55, 80 x 60, 90 x 68, 93 x 74, 100 x 80, 110 x 85, 120 x 90, 125 x 99, 135 x 105, 145 x 113, 150 x 120, 160 x 127 and 170 x 134 cm (width x height). The original is 92.5 cm wide and 73.5 cm high; our 93 x 74 cm size matches it almost exactly, so the orchards on your wall are as large as they are in Munich. The 40 x 30 cm size suits a small study or a hallway. The white blossom is the brightest part of the painting, so it looks best on a white, cream or pale 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 top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.
What if I need a custom size or a frame?
If none of the 16 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure, for example a little longer and lower to suit a long sideboard. 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 white or natural wood frame keeps the spring colours light; a narrow gold frame warms the orange shoots.
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, and we correct anything that is not right. Our returns policy applies to every order.
You can browse all our Van Gogh paintings in one gallery, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a present and are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original View of Arles, Flowering Orchards today?
In Munich. It belongs to the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is catalogued with the Neue Pinakothek as Blick auf Arles, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 92.5 cm, under the inventory number 8671. It has been in Munich since 1912.
When did Van Gogh paint View of Arles, Flowering Orchards?
In the spring of 1889, in Arles, according to both the Neue Pinakothek and Wikipedia. It was barely a year after an earlier view of the town among yellow and violet flowers from May 1888, and it followed the outbreak of his illness and the attacks that came after it. The fruit trees were in blossom when he painted it.
What are the tall trees in front of View of Arles, Flowering Orchards?
They are poplars growing on the bank of a canal, painted in blue and violet with bare orange shoots. The Neue Pinakothek calls their trunks a “grid” that, together with the water, shuts the painter out of the blossoming garden beyond. According to Wikipedia, poplars still stand along that canal today.
Which buildings of Arles can you see in View of Arles, Flowering Orchards?
According to Wikipedia, the towers of Saint-Trophime and of the Collège Saint-Charles on the left, and on the right the newer Caserne Calvin, the barracks of the Zouave regiment. Van Gogh knew several Zouave officers and painted one of them. The orchards in front of the town and the barracks no longer exist.
Is View of Arles, Flowering Orchards part of the Flowering Orchards series?
Yes. Wikipedia counts it among the several paintings of his Flowering Orchards series, made while he lived in Arles and grouped under the years 1888 and 1889. This one is from the spring of 1889, and here the blossoming trees are seen at a distance, through poplars, with the whole town behind them.
Was View of Arles, Flowering Orchards exhibited in Van Gogh’s lifetime?
Yes. According to Wikipedia, Van Gogh included it in his selection of works for the exhibition of Les XX in Brussels in 1890. It came to Munich in 1912 as a gift from Emy Roth, as part of the Tschudi donation, and has belonged to the Bavarian State Painting Collections ever since.
How big is the original View of Arles, Flowering Orchards?
The Neue Pinakothek measures it at 73.5 cm high and 92.5 cm wide, a landscape format a little under a metre across; Wikipedia rounds it to 72 x 92 cm. Our 93 x 74 cm size matches the original almost exactly, and there are smaller and larger sizes from 40 x 30 up to 170 x 134 cm, as well as custom sizes.
Is View of Arles, Flowering Orchards a good painting to give as a gift?
Yes, especially in spring or for a new home, a wedding or a garden lover. As a canvas painting in landscape format it fits easily above a sofa, a bed or a dining table, and the white blossom keeps a room light. If you are unsure of the size, a voucher lets the recipient choose the size and frame themselves.
Does your View of Arles, Flowering Orchards 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 white blossom, in the long strokes of the grass and along the twisted poplar trunks, where the relief catches the light.
- Subject: orchards in white blossom on the edge of Arles, seen through tall blue-violet poplar trunks, with the town’s roofs and towers behind.
- Original: spring 1889, Arles, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 92.5 cm, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
- Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 30 to 170 x 134 cm or made to measure.
