About the Cover

The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889

Vincent van Gogh
(Dutch, 1853–1890)
Netherlands
oil on fabric
Framed: 104.5 x 124.5 x 7.6 cm (41 1/8 x 49 x 3 in.); Unframed: 73.4 x 91.8 cm (28 7/8 x 36 1/8 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1947.209

DESCRIPTION

The Large Plane Trees, also known as the Road Menders at Saint-Remy, is an oil on canvas painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889. The Large Plane Trees, which is displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art, is one of two versions of a village street scene. A second version of the painting, The Road Menders, is part of the Philips Collection in Washington DC. 

Van Gogh frequently made copies of his art, calling them répétitions. The Large Plane Trees is believed to have been painted first followed by The Road Menders, believed to have been created in a studio. The paintings provided the inspiration for the 2013-2014 exhibit “Van Gogh Repetitions” that brought together 13 instances of van Gogh’s artistic versioning. The exhibit appeared first at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, which ran from October 12, 2013, to February 2, 2014, and then moved to the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, which ran from March 2 to June 1, 2014.

The painting is a vibrant palette of autumn tones with energetic brushstrokes. The scene depicts local villagers at work repaving a street under towering trees in Saint-Rémy, known at the time as the Cours de l’Est, where van Gogh lived in a nearby asylum for the treatment of severe depression. During his stay, van Gogh’s physician allowed him to paint outside as part of his recovery.

References

1 The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy). Vincent van Gogh, 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art. Accessed February 2025. www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.209

2 The Road Menders. Vincent van Gogh, 1889. Phillips Collection. Accessed February 2025. https://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/road-menders

3  Vincent van Gogh, The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Artsy. Accessed February 2025. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vincent-van-gogh-the-large-plane-trees-road-menders-at-saint-remy

4 Adams H. Seeing Double: Van Gogh the Tweaker. New York Times. Published October 2, 2013. Accessed February 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/arts/design/seeing-double-van-gogh-the-tweaker.html