11/10/2021
Vincent wrote to his brother, Theo, about this painting saying, "I’ve just finished a landscape of an olive grove with grey foliage, their cast shadows violet in the sun-drenched sand.” This description caught the attention of Dr. Nicole R. Myers (Senior Curator of European Art at ), particularly around his use of the word, "violet." Knowing how precise Van Gogh was about his color palette, 🎨 she enlisted the assistance of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to conduct some research.
It turns out that the "red lake" pigments Van Gogh used are highly unstable when exposed to light, indicating that many of his famous works we know and appreciate today, may not actually appear as he intended.
🖼️: Vincent van Gogh, “Olive Trees” (June 1889), oil on canvas (the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, image courtesy the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Media Services, photo by Gabe Hopkins)