Irises by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh pained Irises in 1889, during his first month in the asylum in Saint-Rémy. Under the care of a sympathetic staff, Vincent's fears abated. His doctors recognized his need to work, and by the end of May, Vincent found it necessary to ask his brother Theo to send him more canvas and paint. He painted the irises that grew on the hospital grounds, and he assured Theo, "When you receive the canvases I have done in the garden, you will see I am not too melancholy here."

Vincent van Gogh's Irises (oil on canvas, 28x 36-1/2 inches) is housed at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Despite Vincent's assurances to his brother, a self-portrait he completed at this time indicates he was suffering more than he indicated.

Lilacs by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh's Lilacs was completed in 1889, shortly after Vincent voluntarily entered the mental asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole. While his condition was assessed, van Gogh considered the potential subjects available to him in confinement. These included an unkempt garden and the view out his window, but he longed to take his easel to the countryside. The leafy lilac trees, just coming into their pale blooms, gave Vincent van Gogh a subject to paint on the grounds of the asylum.

Vincent van Gogh's Lilacs (oil on canvas, 28-3/4x 36-1/4 inches) can be seen at Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Le Crau with Peach Trees in Blossom by Vincent van Gogh

Le Crau with Peach Trees in Blossom was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 and captures what drew van Gogh to southern France. Vincent moved to Provence for the restorative warmth of the sun and picturesque tranquility of the rural location. The blue sky, verdant fields, and blooming fruit trees in Le Crau with Peach Trees in Blossom sparked a vitality in his art that freed van Gogh to experiment with a lighter palette and varied brush strokes. In nuanced tones and with a delicate touch, Vincent van Gogh painted the fields a last time, asserting that his physical and emotional trials were justified by his artistic development.

Vincent van Gogh's Le Crau with Peach Trees in Blossom (oil on canvas, 25-3/4x32 inches) hangs in London's Courtauld Institute Gallery.

Vincent van Gogh was famous for his depictions of sunflowers, but he loved flowers of all types.

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.