Tree Roots
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Auvers-sur-Oise, July 1890
oil on canvas, 50.3 cm x 100.1 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This painting is on display in the Musée d'Orsay exhibition Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Final Months until 4 February 2024.
This painting seems at first sight to consist of a jumble of bright colours and fanciful abstract forms. Only after that do you realise that it shows a slope with tree trunks and roots. These are trees used for timber, growing in a marl quarry. Such quarries could be found around Auvers (FR). The work was not entirely completed. That explains its unfinished appearance. It is probably Van Gogh's very last painting. Andries Bonger, the brother-in-law of Vincent's brother Theo, described it in a letter: 'The morning before his death, he had painted a sous-bois [forest scene], full of sun and life.'
- F-number
- F0816
- JH-number
- JH2113
- Object number
- s0195V1962
- Dimensions
- 50.3 cm x 100.1 cm, 69.8 cm x 119.7 cm
- Provenance
- With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after July 1890; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; given on loan by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, since 20 January 1931; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh on 10 July 1962 to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam; agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
- artist
- Vincent van Gogh
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
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Search in the collection
The Place Where Van Gogh Painted His Last Masterpiece
In 2020 a postcard was discovered that indicated the plausible location of Tree Roots.
Historical Photograph Confirms Exact Location ‘Tree Roots’
A recently uncovered historical photograph confirms the exact location of Vincent van Gogh's last painting Tree Roots.