Oleanders  1888

by Vincent van Gogh

For Van Gogh, oleanders were joyous, life-affirming flowers that bloomed "inexhaustibly" and were always "putting out strong new shoots." In this painting of August 1888 the flowers fill a majolica jug that the artist used for other still lifes made in Arles. They are symbolically juxtaposed with Émile Zola's [i]La joie de vivre[/i], a novel that Van Gogh had placed in con...
Size: 
23 3/4 x 29 in. (60.3 x 73.7 cm)
Medium: 
Oil on canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art