Explore the Olive pickers about the The paintings of this artwork, Olive Trees (Van Gogh series).
Van Gogh painted three versions of women picking olives.  The first (F654) he described as an on-the-spot study "in deeper tones from nature".  The second painting (F655) is "the most resolved and stylized of the three," intended for his sister and mother, is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.The third, in the Chester Dale collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (F656) he painted in his studio in December in a "very discreet color scheme". Although the subject of the painting is immediately clear, the first tree, like a stepping stone, leads the spectator into the scene. Here van Gogh was more concerned about emotional and spiritual reality than literal interpretation. The women harvest olives for sustenance. The way in which the trees seem to wrap around the women and the trees and the landscape are almost one, indicates an emotional bond and interdependence between nature and people.Another painting was made of olive pickers, this time a couple.  Kröller-Müller Museum's Olive Grove with Two Olive Pickers (F587) was painted December, 1889.
National Gallery of Art National Gallery Kröller-Müller Museum New York City Washington, DC Metropolitan Museum of Art