Orchard in Blossom with View of Arles by Vincent van Gogh

In his 1889 work titled Orchard in Blossom with View of Arles, Vincent van Gogh returned to the subject that gave him inspiration after his arrival in Arles. The lighter, silvery character of his blue and green palette in Orchard in Blossom with View of Arles conveyed the sense of nature's fresh renewal, and his deft even stroke, which evokes a gentle breeze stirring the grasses, conveys the tranquility and promise Vincent van Gogh associated with the spring season. But the twisted trunk of the tree recalls the intensity Vincent infused into the motif of The Sower the previous year.

Orchard in Blossom with View of Arles (oil on canvas, 28-1/4x36-1/4 inches), by Vincent van Gogh, can be found at Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Pieta (After Delacroix) by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh's Pietà (After Delacroix) was painted in 1889, shortly after his return to work, when Vincent resumed his old habit of making oil copies of black and white reproductions of the works of art he admired. Eugène Delacroix's color theory had shaped Vincent van Gogh's ideas about color from his earliest reflections on painting. The resonant contrast of blue and yellow in Pietà -- broken only by Christ's red hair and beard -- heightens the emotional power as well as his personal connection to the art of Delacroix.

Pietà (After Delacroix) (oil on canvas, 16-1/2x13-1/2 inches), by Vincent van Gogh, can be found at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Ward of Arles Hospital by Vincent van Gogh

The 1889 painting Ward of Arles Hospital, by Vincent van Gogh, portrays the institution where Vincent spent his last months in Arles. When his health permitted, van Gogh left the premises to paint in the fields. He also painted the scenes outside his window. Vincent van Gogh felt more secure living with medical supervision, but in his painting, Ward of Arles Hospital, the exaggerated length of the corridor and the nervous contours that delineate the figures of the patients express the emotional weight of his isolation and confinement.

Vincent van Gogh's Ward of Arles Hospital (oil on canvas, 28-1/4x35-1/4 inches) is part of the Collection Oskar Reinhart 'Am Römerholz,' Winterthur, Switzerland.

Van Gogh didn't brood on such depressing subjects entirely, however. Keep reading to learn more about a lighter work that he completed around this same time.

Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted Cypresses in 1889, within a month of his arrival at the mental asylum, when Vincent gained permission to paint in the open air. He ventured just beyond the grounds of the hospital into the groves of cypress trees that he could see from his window. Van Gogh observed them closely, explaining to his brother Theo that the trees were constantly on his mind and that as a motif they reminded him of sunflowers, "because it astonishes me that they have not been done as I see them."

Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh (oil on canvas, 36-3/4x29-1/4 inches) hangs in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Besides nature, van Gogh also drew inspiration from old works of art, which he had previously produced in his studio. Keep reading to learn more about one of these copies.

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night while in the Saint-Rémy asylum in 1889. Vincent's room in the Saint-Rémy asylum looked out on the eastern sky. He painted The Starry Night as a panoramic vista spreading out into an almost infinite distance under a tumultuous sky ablaze with stars. 

Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (oil on canvas, 29x36-1/4 inches) hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The writhing branches of the cypress in the foreground are carved, like the stars, in thick impasto, and the tree vibrates with the rhythms of nature's divinity. The orange-yellow crescent moon makes a stark contrast to the vivid blue firmament, recalling Vincent van Gogh's belief that arbitrary color allowed him to express himself "more forcefully."

Eventually van Gogh was allowed to leave the confines of the asylum to paint the surrounding areas. Next, we'll look at one of those paintings. HowStuffWorks