Vincent Van Gogh and the Mulberry Tree

In this essay I plan to examine the background of Van Gogh’s painting the Mulberry Tree. I will also describe where the painting is displayed today, as well as discuss how it fits in with the concepts and other works of art we have discussed during lecture. First, I will start by giving the painting a context in history by discussing its background. The Mulberry Tree was painted in 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh during his stay at the asylum in Saint Remy.

It is oil on canvas and currently resides at the Norton-Simon museum in Pasadena, California.

All of this information is available at the museum upon viewing the painting, but the fact that such a beautiful piece of art was created at an asylum prompts the viewer to conduct a little more research. Upon delving a little bit into the painting’s, and Van Gogh’s, rich and complex past one will find a man perched upon the precipice of beauty and madness, painting furiously to find the meaning behind it all.