Van Gogh's Almond Blossom: painted for a baby, hung over a piano

October 27, 2026

Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom, 1890: white almond blossom on twisting branches against a clear blue sky

Short answer (updated 28 Oct 2026, pass 5): Almond Blossom is a gift Van Gogh painted for his newborn nephew, Vincent Willem, in February 1890, while he was a patient at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam catalogues it as oil on canvas, 73.3 × 92.4 cm, object number s0176V1962 (F671 / JH1891). It was meant for the baby's bedroom. In March 1890 it hung over Theo and Jo's own bed, and by June above the piano. Right after he finished it he fell ill for about two months, his longest crisis. The family never sold it, and the boy it was painted for went on to found the museum where it hangs today. (Van Gogh Museum)

The fact gap: a nursery picture that never hung in the nursery

	What people assume	What the record says
Who it was for	A spring picture he painted to sell	A gift for Theo and Jo's son, born 31 January 1890 and named Vincent after his uncle. Van Gogh told his mother he "started right away to make a painting for him, to hang in their bedroom." (Van Gogh Museum; letter 855, 19 Feb 1890)
Where it hung	Over the baby's cot	First over Theo and Jo's own bed. On 29 March 1890 Jo wrote to Vincent that the baby "always looks with very great interest at Uncle Vincent's paintings" and that "the tree in blossom that hangs over our bed really fascinates him." (letter 861, Jo van Gogh-Bonger to Vincent) By June it hung prominently above the piano in their apartment. Van Gogh saw it there himself and told his sister: "For Theo and Jo's little one I brought back a rather large painting — which they've hung above the piano — white almond blossoms — big branches on a sky-blue background." (letter 879, to Willemien, Auvers, 5 June 1890) Later, after Theo's death, it hung in the bedroom Jo shared with her son in Bussum. (Van Gogh Museum)
His state of mind	A carefree, happy moment	He painted it after weeks without working because of an attack. Once he finished it at the end of February, he had an attack that lasted two months, his longest ever. He himself called it "perhaps the most patiently worked, best thing I had done, painted with calm and a greater sureness of touch. And the next day done for like a brute." (Van Gogh Museum; letter 857, to Theo, c. 17 March 1890)
What you're looking at	An almond tree in an orchard	Just branches seen from below and very close up, against blue sky, with no ground and no horizon. The subject, bold outlines and placement come from Japanese printmaking. (Van Gogh Museum)
What happened to it	Sold like his other work	Never sold. Sent to Theo at the end of April 1890, it passed to Jo and her son, then went to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962. Vincent Willem founded the Van Gogh Museum, which opened in 1973. (Van Gogh Museum)

Two years apart: the sprig and the branches

Van Gogh, Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass, Arles, early March 1888

Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass · Arles, early March 1888 · 24.5 × 19.5 cm · signed "Vincent" · Van Gogh Museum s0184V1962 (F392 / JH1361)

Painted in Arles in early March 1888, this is a small upright still life: a single cut sprig in a water glass. Two years later the almond comes back on a landscape-format canvas about three times as tall: Almond Blossom, 73.3 × 92.4 cm. This time there is no glass and no table, just branches against the sky. The Van Gogh Museum puts both in the same line of blossom pictures, "ranging from a small flowering sprig in a glass to lavishly blossoming trees." (Van Gogh Museum; Van Gogh Worldwide)

Image: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. The museum doesn't endorse this shop.

Three details worth looking at

Many blues, not one. The museum points out that he painted the sky very carefully around the branches, using many shades of blue, as in a real sky. (Van Gogh Museum)
Buds next to flowers. Closed buds sit next to fully open blossoms on the same branch, some with a faint pink centre. (Our reading)
Branches cut off at the edge. The branches run off the edges of the canvas, with no trunk or ground in view. The museum ties the close-up view and bold outlines to Japanese printmaking; the comparison to cropped print motifs is ours. (Van Gogh Museum; our reading)

Context

Theo's letter announcing the birth said: "we'll name him after you, and I'm making the wish that he may be as determined and as courageous as you." (Van Gogh Museum, quoting letter 847)
Van Gogh spent a year at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole hospital in Saint-Rémy (May 1889 to May 1890) and made around 150 paintings there. (Van Gogh Museum)
Blossoming branches were among his favourite subjects. In Arles in 1888 he had painted a Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass and orchards in bloom. (Van Gogh Museum)
The same day he wrote to his mother, he told his sister Willemien: "I've started painting for him these last few days — a large sky-blue canvas against which branches covered in blossoms stand out." (letter 856, 19 Feb 1890)
Recovering in spring 1890, he found he had missed the blossom season. He wrote to Theo: "I fell ill at the time I was doing the almond-tree blossoms. … Now the trees in blossom are almost finished, really I have no luck." (Van Gogh Museum; letter 863, 29 April 1890)
When the canvas reached Paris, Theo wrote back that "the branch of the almond trees in blossom shows that you haven't exhausted these subjects. You may have missed the season of the blossoming trees this year, but let's hope that that won't be the case next time." (letter 867, Theo to Vincent, 3 May 1890)
The museum lists the canvas as currently on view in Amsterdam. Credit line: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation). (Van Gogh Museum, checked 27 Oct 2026)

Which print

Our print reproduces the February 1890 Van Gogh Museum canvas (s0176V1962), not the 1888 Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass or any of the orchard paintings. We print from a faithful public-domain photograph on Wikimedia Commons; Van Gogh died in 1890. The museum doesn't supply or endorse the file. The print is 5:4 landscape, within about one percent of the canvas's shape. → Van Gogh, Almond Blossom (1890) fine art print

Also from the dossier shelf:

Irises: another Saint-Rémy flower canvas, from May 1890.
The Starry Night: painted in the same hospital the summer before.
The Great Wave: the kind of Japanese print Van Gogh learned from.

FAQ

Where is Almond Blossom? The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, object number s0176V1962 (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).

When was it painted? February 1890, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

How big is it? 73.3 × 92.4 cm (28⅞ × 36⅜ in.), wider than it is tall.

Who was it painted for? His nephew Vincent Willem van Gogh, son of Theo and Jo, born 31 January 1890.

Did it hang in the baby's room? Not at first. In March 1890 it hung over Theo and Jo's own bed, where Jo wrote that it "really fascinates" the baby (letter 861); by June it was above their piano. Later it hung in the bedroom Jo shared with her son.

What did Van Gogh think of it? That it was "perhaps the most patiently worked, best thing I had done." (letter 857)

Is the image public domain? Yes. The painting is public domain and we print from a faithful public-domain photograph. No museum endorses this shop.