#oleanders

Oleanders

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890 )

Date: 1888

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States

Description

Oleanders, 1888

Vincent Van Gogh

I didn’t take many process photos for this because I wasn’t meaning to show it to anyone, but towards the end it started looking very pretty so I thought of taking photos of it. I painted this one very quickly compared to the others, although it was smaller it still had lots of detail, so it really surprised me. I hope you like it.

“I wondered why it had to be so poisonous. Oleanders could live through anything, they could stand heat, drought, neglect, and put out thousands of waxy blooms. So what did they need poison for? Couldn't they just be bitter? They weren't like rattlesnakes, they didn't even eat what they killed. The way she boiled it down, distilled it, like her hatred. Maybe it was a poison in the soil, something about certain land the hatred, the callousness, something we didn't want to think about, that the plant concentrated in its tissues. Maybe it wasn't a source of poison, but just another victim.” ~Janet Fitch