ORCHARD, SPRINGTIME
By VINCENT VAN GOGH
IN this one of the most important of all VAN GOGH'S works, the Impressionism is an attempt to capture not so much a quality of light & atmosphere as of things, things which are, however, the airiest & lightest & most akin to sunlight the blossoming trees.
The orchard is sparse, its blossoms immaterial, & therefore merging with a sky which is itself like the blossoms in the delicate tiny spotting of white and blue.
A like spotting colours the ground, a rare soft blend of warm blue & lilac & light yellow tones, like the blend of the blossoms & the cooler sky. Earth and sky seem made of the same transparent substance tiny particles of pure vibrant colour. The methodical Impressionist touch & division of tones is no strict formula here.
The trees are drawn in outline and the beautiful fence in long parallel strokes. The dark inky blue trees in the distance are as delicate & weightless as flowers, yet very precise; the fence, a fine spectral film, the shadows cast by the trees, a joyous striping of gay blues, light and dark.
Every object, every division of the ground, has its own peculiarity of colour and touch, while all unite in the common diaphanousness & brightness to exhale an earthly sweetness & charm.
VINCENT GAN GOGH PAINTINGS