Garden with Courting Couples

Springtime settles over a Paris park in this cheerful scene that Vincent van Gogh painted in 1887. Couples wander and pause among the thin trunks of young trees, while chestnut branches show their first blush of pink blossoms. Countless tiny brushstrokes flicker across the canvas, giving the whole picture a sense of motion and light. This energetic technique came straight from his years in Paris, where he studied the Impressionists and picked up the dotted color method of the Pointillists.

Van Gogh had a soft spot for this particular work and wrote about it warmly in his letters to his brother Theo. To him the garden was a spot for love and quiet moments together, which is why so many tender couples fill the greenery. The lonely figure tucked into the lower left corner may hint at the artist's own wish for a companion of his own. More than a pretty park view, the painting captures a turning point in his art, when the gloomy browns of his Dutch years gave way to the bold color and lively spirit that would carry through the rest of his career.