Pollard Willows

Van Gogh's Pollard Willows, painted at Saint-Rémy in 1889, returns to a subject he had painted in Holland — the pollarded willow was a characteristically Dutch-managed tree, regularly cut back to encourage the thick growth of young branches used for basket-weaving and fencing. Finding pollard willows in the south connected Van Gogh's Mediterranean present with his Dutch past. The trees' distinctive cropped forms, sprouting thick new growth from the cut trunks, are rendered with his fully developed Saint-Rémy expressive style. This work is in the Stavros Niarchos Collection.

The pollarded willows are rendered with Van Gogh's Saint-Rémy brushwork at its most expressive — the cut trunks and sprouting new growth animated by swirling, energetic strokes. The specific form of the pollarded tree — its truncated trunk and exuberant new growth — is observed with both accuracy and expressive heightening. The palette uses warm ochres and yellows for the trunks, vivid greens for the new growth.