Mindlovemisery's Menagerie Photo Challenge 48 The Mulberry Tree by Vincent Van Gogh

The Mulberry Tree - Vincent Van Gogh

What a joy to see this wonderful painting by a fellow dutchman Vincent Van Gogh and what a joy to see that it's here at the right time, because at my daily haiku meme Carpe Diem Haiku Kai we have all prompts this month about impressionism and as you maybe know ... Van Gogh was an impressionist ...

This is the new photo-challenge at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie and I feel proud that I will be one of their hosts on Fridays. I will host the Fairy-Tale prompt. Next Friday will be my debute at MLMM. I am a bit nervous, but I am also excited to start ... well we will see ...

Ok ... back to this Photo Challenge and to the painting of Vincent Van Gogh. Let me first tell you all a little bit more about the background of this painting.

Van Gogh painted The Mulberry Tree in October of 1889 less than a year before he would die. Like most of his art, it was done during a period of highs and lows painted during a time of great self-awareness and yet surrounded by chaos.In a letter which Vincent wrote to his brother, when he was painting The Mulberry Tree, he says: “I’ll tell you that we’re having some superb autumn days, and that I’m taking advantage of them.”

The Mulberry Tree shows a tree from the garden of the asylum. It is centered on the canvas and is growing alone from a rocky hillside. The ground is made up of short quick brushstrokes of white and pale browns. It creates a strong contrast to the dark green and brown of the tree trunk. To the right, you see more greens, indicating trees and growth in the distance. The leaves of the tree make up the majority of the painting, orange against the complementary color of the blue sky. It is that “superb autumn” that gave Vincent the bright orange leaves to paint. The ground and sky are made up of mostly straight diagonal brushstrokes, while the tree leaves are made up of curling spirals of orange and black, sometimes done with the handle of his brush.

I once stated that (at one of my other weblogs) that haiku is an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. And in a way haiku and impressionism are connected ... so I have to come up with a wonderful impression based on this painting.

faint autumn colors
leaves rustle in the afternoon breeze
screams from the asylum
(c) Chèvrefeuille

Well ... see you next time ...