Almond Blossoms

Almond Blossomsis a group of several paintings made in 1888 and 1890 byVincent van GoghinArlesandSaint-Rémy,southern Franceof blossomingalmondtrees. Flowering trees were special to van Gogh.  They represented awakening and hope.  He enjoyed them aesthetically and found joy in painting flowering trees. The works reflect the influence ofImpressionism,Divisionism, andJapanesewoodcuts.Almond Blossomwas made to celebrate the birth of his nephew and namesake, son of his brotherTheoand sister-in-lawJo.
In 1888 van Gogh became inspired in southern France and began the most productive period of his painting career.  In connection with his paintingFarmhouse in Provence(1888), theNational Gallery of Artnotes that:
When van Gogh arrived in Arles in March 1888fruit treesin the orchards were about to bloom.Theblossomsof the apricot, peach and plum trees motivated him,and within a month he had created fourteen paintings of blossoming fruit trees.Excited by the subject matter, van Gogh completed nearly one painting a day.Around April 21 he wrote toTheo, that he "will have to seek something new, now the orchards have almost finished blossoming."
Van Gogh's work reflected his interest in Japanesewood blockprints.Hiroshige'sPlum Park in Kameidodemonstrates portrayal of beautiful subject matter with flat patterns of colors and no shadow.  Van Gogh used the termJaponaiserieto express this influence; he collected hundreds of Japanese prints and likened the works of the great Japanese artists, like Hiroshige, to those ofRembrandt,Hals, andVermeer.  Hiroshige was one of the last great masters of the Japanese genre calledukiyo-e.Van Gogh integrated some of the technical aspects of ukiyo-e into his work as his two 1887 homages to Hiroshige demonstrates.
The Japanese paintings represent Van Gogh's search for serenity, which he describes in a letter to his sister, "Having as much of this serenity as possible, even though one knows little – nothing – for certain, is perhaps a better remedy for all diseases than all the things that are sold at the chemist's shop."The southern region and the flowering trees seem to awaken van Gogh from his doldrums into a state of clear direction, hyper-activity and good cheer.  He wrote, "I am up to my ears in work for the trees are in blossom and I want to paint a Provençal orchard of astonishing gaiety."  While in the past a very active period would have drained him, this time he was invigorated.
Vincent wrote to Theo, "Down here it is freezing hard and there is still snow in the countryside," and he has "two small studies of an almond-tree branch already in flower in spite of it."  The two studies areBlossoming Almond Branch in a GlassandBlossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book.
Althoughfruit treeswere about to bloom when Vincent arrived in Arles,the town had just received a layer of snow, driving van Gogh inside for his first week in Arles where he worked on still life, such as a branch from an almond tree.To reflect the early signs of spring, he used delicate brushstrokes and pastel shades forBlossoming Almond Branch in a Glass.
InArt Inspiring Transmutations of Life,Bruce Rossevaluates theImpressionists'effect on van Gogh's work,
In mid-March 1888 van Gogh writes of the weather and that the almond trees are coming into full flower, "The weather here is changeable, often windy with turbulent skies, but the almond trees are beginning to flower everywhere."
Mancoff says of flowering trees and this work,
The rendering ofAlmond Blossomis positioned close and accessible to the viewer and the branches appear to reach out beyond the painting's frame.
Theo wrote to his brother Vincent on January 31, 1890, to announce the birth of his son, Vincent Willem van Gogh. As a means of celebration, Vincent began work on a painting for Theo and his wife.  He was very close to his brother and he sought to symbolize new life in the flowers of the almond tree for the birth of baby Vincent.
Vincent wrote to his mother of the birth of Theo andJo'sbaby,
The composition is unlike any other of van Gogh's paintings. The branches of the almond tree seem to float against the blue sky and fill the picture plane.The close-up of the branches brings to mindDelacroix's proposition that "even a part of a thing is kind of a complete entity in itself."Dark lines outline the branches. This is a feature that Van Gogh had admired in Japanese floral studies that, for example, may depict a portion of a stalk of bamboo in an empty space.The bright color is reflective of the paintings made in Arles and the transformational work van Gogh had on the still life genre.
Van Gogh biographerSteven Naifehspeculates that in paintingAlmond Blossoms, Van Gogh drew inspiration from his friendJohn Russell's 1887 paintingAlmond Trees in Blossom. Russell in turn may have derived his work from Japanese artistHokusai's 1833 woodblockBullfinch and Weeping Cherry.