Path Through a Field with Willows

Van Gogh's Path Through a Field with Willows, painted at Arles in 1888, belongs to his series of path and road subjects that provided both compositional devices and suggestions of journey, destination, and the unknown. A field path bordered by willows — their trailing branches creating a corridor of shade — invited the eye into depth while the willows' specific character gave him strong lateral forms to set against the recession. The work is in a Swiss collection, part of the significant Swiss holding of Post-Impressionist work.

The path provides a strong central recession element leading the eye into the composition's depth. The willows flank it with their characteristic cascading branch forms, rendered with Van Gogh's energetic brushwork. His warm Arles palette covers the field in yellows and greens with the willow branches in darker, richer tones. The sky and vegetation are treated with his characteristic animated touch.