Peach Trees in Blossom
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh
- Date: 1889
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is “Peach Trees in Blossom” by Vincent van Gogh. Painted in 1889, the oil on canvas captures an open plain just outside Arles in early spring. Van Gogh had moved to the south of France a year earlier, chasing the Provençal light that he hoped would fuel his work. In this scene he channels that light into a field of blossoms, using thick, almost pointillist dots for the peach petals. The mountains beyond are rendered with longer, sweeping strokes, giving them a soft, almost dreamlike quality.
He wrote to his brother that the combination of these blossoms and the distant, snow‑capped peaks reminded him of the cherry trees and Mount Fuji he admired in Japanese prints. That cultural dialogue is visible in how he blends the delicate, almost fragile detail of the blossoms with the bold, monumental backdrop of the mountains.
The brushwork here is a great study in variety: sharp, dense dabs for the blossoms contrast with elongated, almost linear strokes for the mountain range. This dynamic range of texture invites viewers to move their eyes across the canvas, from the foreground's vibrant, almost translucent flowers to the distant, muted landscape that stretches into the horizon. The overall effect is a harmonious balance between detail and atmospheric breadth, a testament to van Gogh’s ability to translate light and emotion onto canvas.
See it in person
Peach Trees in Blossom hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
