About the Artist
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is one of the most famous and influential artists in Western art history. In a decade, he made over 2,100 artworks, including approximately 860 oil paintings, the majority of which originate from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still life, portraits, and self-portraits, and are distinguished by vivid colors and dramatic, spontaneous, and expressive brushwork that helped lay the foundation for modern art.
In the spring of 1888, Van Gogh came in Arles on the heels of a late snowfall. He spent his first week back home painting such still life, Blossoming Almond in a Glass and Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book. During the first month of his visit, he painted roughly one painting of a flowering tree every day, including some of almond blossoms. Ironically, the artist finished his final painting of a blossoming tree, a symbol of rebirth and new life, just a few months before his death by suicide.

Items