Details
The image
Branches crossing a pale sky, blossom painted with short, even strokes, the blue behind them flat and cool. The composition is cropped close so that the tree fills the sheet and there is no ground, no horizon and nothing to suggest a place.
Where it comes from
Van Gogh painted flowering branches in the south of France as a subject of celebration and he worked against a sky that he kept deliberately simple so the blossom would carry the picture. The painting belongs to the years when he was producing most of the work he is now known for and it has been in the public domain for so long that it circulates as a symbol as much as an image.
On the wall
It brings light and spring into a room, so it suits a living room, a bedroom or a hallway with pale walls. Because the composition is dense at the centre and open at the corners, it holds a large wall without crowding it. In a group it should be the piece that lifts the palette.
In company
Hung beside another piece from the Vincent Van Gogh collection, it reads as part of a series rather than a single picture.Avoid dark neighbours, the pale blue needs light around it to stay pale.
