Irises

Vincent van Gogh painted these blue irises in 1889, just after he checked himself into an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in the south of France. The garden there became a source of comfort during a rough stretch of his life, and painting served as a kind of self-made therapy. Each flower has its own shape and posture, twisting and leaning in different directions, drawn with the thick swirling lines that mark his Post-Impressionist style. No two blooms match, and that restless energy gives the whole scene a sense of life.

One small detail rewards a careful eye: off to the left, a single white iris stands apart from all the deep blue ones around it. Many people read it as a gentle symbol of feeling different, something van Gogh knew well. He once called this painting "the lightning conductor for my illness," convinced that as long as he kept working, he could steady himself. The canvas was even shown in Paris, where a critic gave it warm praise, though van Gogh sold almost nothing during his lifetime.

The original now lives at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where it remains a favorite among his garden paintings. It stands as proof that he could pull beauty out of even his darkest days.