Undergrowth with Ivy

Vincent van Gogh

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: UndergrowthIvy

Work Overview

Undergrowth with Ivy
July 1889
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 


Van Gogh explored the grounds of the asylum where he found an overgrown garden. He wrote, "since I have been here, I have had enough work with the overgrown garden with its large pine trees, under which there grows tall and poorly-tended grass, mixed with all kinds of periwinkle." The paintings are of growth below ivy covered trees.[28]


Of the first of painting (F745), Van Gogh Museum comments, "The effect of light and shade created an almost abstract pattern, with small arcs of paint covering the entire surface of the canvas."[28] The second (F746), also of undergrowth beneath trees, is made with small brushstrokes to create a blurred image that also shows the effect of light shining through the shaded trees.[29]


Ivy, originally Le Lierre is a painting Van Gogh made May 1889.[30] Van Gogh incorporated the first version in his selection of works to be displayed at Les XX, Brussels, in 1890.