The Mulberry Tree
October 1889
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
On View

Van Gogh suffered from delicate mental and physical health throughout his life. In the spring of 1889, following a series of nervous breakdowns, he committed himself to an asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. There his work evolved away from the hallucinatory color of his Arles period toward the ever more vigorous brushwork and ever more liberally applied paint of his late manner. Here the flaming foliage of the mulberry tree, the rushing sky and hillside are so richly painted that the picture’s surface becomes a kind of bas-relief sculpture. Van Gogh was particularly pleased with this painting, remarking in letters to his siblings that he considered it his most successful treatment of its theme.

Details

  • Artist Name: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
  • Title: The Mulberry Tree
  • Date: October 1889
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (54 x 65 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
  • Accession Number: M.1976.09.P
  • Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation

Object Information

Camille Pissarro, Paris, by 1890, by inheritance to;
Madame C. Pissarro, Paris;
[Ambroise Vollard, Paris].
Alphonse Kann (1870-1948), Saint Germain-en-Laye by 1928, still in 1934, presumably inherited by;
Michael Stewart, London.
[David Gibbs, London and New York, sold 19 October 1961 to];
[Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London, sold 12 November 1961 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1976 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.

Van Gogh, l'epoque française

  • Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1927-06-20 to 1927-07-02

Gauguin: ses amis l'ecole de Pont-Aven et l'Academie Julian

  • Paris, Les expositions de "Beaux-Arts" & "La Gazette de Beaux-Arts", 1934-02 to 1934-03

[on loan]

  • Indiana, University of Notre Dame, Snite Museum of Art, 1980-10 to 1981-08

[on loan]

  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971-09-16 to

Vincent van Gogh

  • Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1901-03-15 to 1901-03-31

Vincent van Gogh: Painter, Printmaker, Collector

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1990-04-19 to 1992-01-12

Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and The Norton Simon Foundation_1

  • California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1973-05-03 to 1976-06-15

Reinstallation of South Wing

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
  • The French Impressionists in Southern California: Paintings, Sculptures and Prints in Public Collections. A Guidebook and Catalogue,
  • Arnold, Matthias, Vincent van Gogh: Werk und Wirkung, fig. 370 pp. 700, 866
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  • Faille, J. B. de la, Vincent van Gogh, no. 640/F.637 p. 441
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  • Silverman, Ronald H., Learning About Art: A Practical Approach, 1982, pp. 120-122
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  • Sutton, Peter C., A Guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, p. 220
  • Van Gogh: A Retrospective, 1986, pl. 98 pp. 233, 260, 305
  • Pickvance, Ronald, Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers, 1986, p. 317
  • Scherjon, W. and Joseph de Gruyter, Vincent van Gogh's Great Period: Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers sur Oise, 1987, no. 53 p. 247
  • Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 168
  • Palmer, Larry, International Fine Art Collector, 1990, pp. 72-74
  • Laidlaw, David H., IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 2001, pp. 6-9
  • William H. Sadlier, Inc., We Believe, 2003, p. .36
  • Boerboom, Stefan, Gezondheids Nieuws, 2003, p. 33
  • Wilson, William, Los Angeles Times, 2004, pp. 90-91
  • Korn, Madeleine, Vitalizing Memory: International Perspectives on Provenance Research, 2005, p. 111
  • Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
  • Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 101 p. 257
  • Stefan Koldehoff, Me and van Gogh - Famous Works of Art and Their Owners, 2014, pp. 166-169
  • Sjraar van Heugten, Van Gogh and the Seasons, 2017, p. 52 ; p. 51 (ill.)
  • Kunstmuseum Basel, Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism, 2021, Fig. 5 pp. 156-158, p. 156 (ill.)
  • Le Figaro, Figaro Hors-Série: Van Gogh, La symphonie de l'adieu, 2023, pp. 122-127, p. 125 (ill.)
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Additional Artwork by Artist

Autograph Letter from Auvers-Sur-Oise to the Ginoux Family in Arles Vincent van Gogh c. June 11, 1890
Back Garden of Sien's Mother's House, the Hague Vincent van Gogh 1882
Head of a Peasant Woman in a White Bonnet Vincent van Gogh 1885

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