Describe the characteristics of the Poppies and Butterflies in Butterflies (Van Gogh series)'s Paintings made in Saint-Rémy.
Debra Mancoff, author of Van Gogh's Flowers, describedPoppies and Butterflies: "vivid red poppies and the pale yellow butterflies float on the surface of twisting dark stems and nodding buds, all against a yellow-gold background. Although composed of natural motifs, Van Gogh's layering of pattern in Butterflies and Poppies suggests a decorative quality like that of a textile or a screen."  Mancoff compared this study to the Japanese prints he admired.Butterflies and Poppies is an artwork by Vincent Van Gough, Vincent completed the artwork in 1889. Butterflies and poppies was painted onto a canvas with oil paints. Vincent used a lot of layers in Butterflies and Poppies to create an almost textile-like feel. Using very fine brush strokes also helped to create this illusion.  Vincent painted his series, Butterflies, in Arles, southern France where he rented ‘the yellow house’. Vincent was around 35 years of age, this time is considered his best period for his paintings. Another series created in this region is Sunflower. The painting features two yellow butterflies resting on some red poppies with a pale bluish background.
In The Existential Butterfly, a book of poetry about butterflies and nature, Curtis Farmwald wrote of van Gogh's Poppies and Butterflies:
"Though it was painted
Years ago in another country
By the troubled Vincent van Gogh,
The painting could have been done
Right here sometime this summer.
I’ve seen red poppies like those
Growing wild just down the road.
Yellow sulphurs like those
Are all over my yard.
Can their beauty still inspire
A troubled soul to survive?"Indicating his desire to make the painting, in 1888 Van Gogh mentions hoping to make a better version of butterflies or the field of poppies while in Arles.
southern France Butterflies Arles butterflies Vincent van Gogh Butterfly