A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles

Painted in Arles in October 1888, this view of the Arlesian public garden known as the Poet's Garden shows a tree-lined path under the warm autumn sun. Van Gogh had conceived a grand decorative scheme for the Yellow House, including paintings of the garden outside. He described the Poet's Garden as a place of peaceful beauty and associated it with Renaissance poets. Writing enthusiastically to Theo, he envisioned the garden series as part of a warm, hospitable environment he was trying to create before Gauguin's arrival. Now at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

The composition is anchored by a strong tree trunk dividing the foreground, with the path receding between rows of trees. Warm autumn tones — golden yellows, deep greens, flashes of red — are applied with vigorous, upward brushstrokes. The path is built with thick ochre impasto. The overall effect is one of sunlit enclosure — a garden as refuge and sanctuary.