View of Arles, Flowering Orchards

View of Arles, Flowering Orchards at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich was painted in the spring of 1889 — either just before Van Gogh's breakdown in December 1888 and recovery period, or possibly during his brief return to Arles in February 1889 after leaving the hospital. The flowering orchards had been his first great Arles subject in March 1888, and returning to them a year later carried the weight of everything that had happened in the intervening months: Gauguin's arrival and departure, the ear episode, the hospitalisation. The blossoming trees represented both continuity — the same seasonal cycle returning regardless of personal catastrophe — and the resilience of the natural world against human suffering. The Neue Pinakothek holds a significant collection of nineteenth-century European painting, and this canvas occupies an important place among its Van Gogh holdings.

Van Gogh's hallmark impasto technique layers thick, energetic brushstrokes that seem to vibrate with inner life. His palette favors intense complementary contrasts — cobalt blues against cadmium yellows.