The Mulberry Tree

Van Gogh's The Mulberry Tree, painted at Saint-Rémy in October 1889 and now at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, is one of his most celebrated single-tree paintings. He wrote to Theo that he had worked on it 'in a rage of enthusiasm' — the mulberry's extraordinary autumn color, its twisted branches heavy with dark leaves and fruit, gave him exactly the combination of structural complexity and chromatic richness he sought. The Norton Simon Museum's holding places this among California's finest European paintings, visible to generations of West Coast art-lovers.

The mulberry tree fills the canvas with its complex branching structure and dense foliage in autumn color — a rich combination of golds, oranges, and yellows rendered with extraordinary brushwork energy. Van Gogh's technique here is among his most accomplished, every stroke contributing to both the tree's physical structure and its emotional presence. The background is simplified to focus all attention on the tree's powerful form.