Vincent Van Gogh’s Cypresses, painted in 1889, depicts a pair of cypress trees located in the French countryside. This late nineteenth-century oil canvas is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and portrays an asymmetrical balance. The green, conical shapes are contrasted against a bright blue sky, making them stand out.
During the same year, Van Gogh created several versions of A Wheatfield, with Cypresses while institutionalized at St-Rémy. In September 1889, he completed The National Gallery’s painting with less intensity but kept it lyrically beautiful. His career as a painter was short but revolutionary in practice and styles for his intense vision, marvelous sense of color and extraordinary boldness that influenced twentieth-century art.
Van Gogh found cypresses to be “beautiful as regards lines and proportions” like an Egyptian obelisk when creating additional depictions beyond this painting. Other well-known examples include sunflowers and wheat fields.
