Pasture in Bloom

Van Gogh's 1887 pasture in bloom belongs to his Paris period, when he painted extensively in the areas around Montmartre and the outskirts of the city, finding in the spring landscape a counterpart to the chromatic discoveries he was making through contact with the Impressionists. A meadow full of flowers gave him the opportunity to practice the broken color and comma-shaped brushstrokes he had been absorbing, applying them to a subject that rewarded close observation of individual color sensations. The Kröller-Müller version is characteristic of the experimental energy of his Paris painting.

The meadow is rendered with varied, energetic brushwork — short dabs and strokes capturing individual flower heads within the overall carpet of bloom. Van Gogh's developing Impressionist palette is evident: high-keyed greens, yellows, and punctuating flower colors laid in complementary relationships. The composition is open and atmospheric.