The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 24, 2025

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

Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Van Gogh sometimes created what he called "repetitions," in which he painted the same subject and composition again. This painting has a repetition, currently in the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Conservation research has shown that the Cleveland painting is the first version.

Description

Like Two Poplars in the Alpilles near Saint-Rémy (on view nearby), Vincent van Gogh painted this autumnal landscape while living at an asylum near Saint-Rémy in southern France where he was treated for severe depression. Understanding that painting from nature eased his symptoms, Van Gogh’s physician permitted the artist to paint landscapes outside of the asylum. Van Gogh described this painting in a letter to his brother Theo: “The last study I did is a view of the village, where they were at work under some enormous plane trees—repairing the pavements. . . . There are heaps of sand, stones, and the gigantic trunks—the leaves yellowing and here and there you can get a glimpse of a house front and small figures.”

1890
Theo van Gogh [1857-1891], Paris, France
Julien Leclercq [1865-1901] Paris, France (see document b1533 v/1962 in the archive of the Van Gogh Museum
(Schuffenecker Brothers, Paris, France, sold to Gustave Fayet, Igny, France)
Gustave Fayet [1865-1925], Igny, France
1929-1931
Gilbert E. Fuller, Boston, MA
(Paul Rosenberg, New York, NY, July 18, 1947, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1947-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Meyer-Riefstahl, R. "Vincent Van Gogh-II. Van Gogh's Style in Relation to Nature." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 18, no. 93 (December 1910): 155-62. Reproduced: p. 160, pl. III
Volné Směry: Měsíčník Umělecky nos. 1-5 (1911): 108. Reproduced: p. 108
Coquiot, Gustave. ... Vincent van Gogh; avec 24 reproductions hors-texte des œuvres de Vincent van Gogh. Paris, FR: Ollendorff, 1923 Reproduced: opp. p. 216
Grey, Roch. Vincent Van Gogh. Rome: Valori Plastici, 1924. Reproduced: pl. 21
Fels, Florent. Van Gogh. Paris: Librairie Stock, 1924. Reproduced: pl. 9
Goulinat, J. G. "Les Collections Gustave Fayet." L'Amour de l'Art 132 (1925): 129-142. Reproduced: p. 132
Faure, Élie. Histoire de l'art. Paris, FR: G. Crès, 1926. Reproduced: p. 447, vol. 4
Leroy, Edgar. "Le Séjour de Vincent van Gogh à l'Asile de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence." Aesculape 16, no. 7 (July 1926): 180-186. Reproduced: p. 181
Doiteau, Victor, and Edgard Leroy. La folie de Vincent van Gogh. Paris, FR: Aesculape, 1928. Reproduced: opp. p. 80
de LaFaille, J. B. L'oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh, catalogue raisonné. Paris, FR: et Bruxelles: Les Éditions G. van Oest, 1928. Mentioned: no. 657, vol. 1; Reproduced: no. 657, vol. 2
Gogh, Vincent van. Further Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to His Brother, 1886-1889. London, UK: Constable & Co, 1929. Mentioned: p. 418, letter 618; p.424, letter 621
Wilenski, R. H. French Painting. Boston, MA: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931. Reproduced: p. 297
Art Institute of Chicago. Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Prints: The Art Institute of Chicago, June 1 to November 1, 1933. [Chicago]: Art Institute of Chicago, 1933. Mentioned: p. 54, no. 381
Uhde, Wilhelm. Vincent Van Gogh. Vienna, Austria: Phaidon Press, 1936. Reproduced: Pl. 89
Scherjon,W. and W. Jos. de Gruyter. Vincent Van Gogh's Great Period, Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers Sur Oise (Complete Catalogue). Amsterdam (Holland): "De Spieghel", Ltd, 1937. Reproduced: p. 272; no. 77
La Faille, J. Bernard de, Charles Terrasse, Prudence Montagu-Pollock, and André Gloeckner. Vincent Van Gogh. New York, N.Y.: French and European Publications [etc.], 1939. Reproduced: no. 667
Nordenfalk, Carl. "Van Gogh and Sweden." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 15 (December 1946): 89-96. Mentioned: p. 92
Zervos, Christian. "Vincent Van Gogh." Cahiers d'Art 22 (1947): 159-266. Reproduced: p. 254
Francis, H.S. "Les Paveurs, by Vincent van Gogh." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art XXXV, no 4 (April 1948): 57-63. Reproduced: p. 61-62
The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art XXXV, no. 6 (June 1948): 121 Reproduced: cover
Gogh, Vincent van. Work by Vincent Van Gogh: Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, November 3 Through December 12 1948. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1948. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 25
Levine, Jack. "Homage to Vincent." ARTnews 47 (December 1948): 26-30. Mentioned: p. 26; reproduced: p. 28-29
"The Year's Best: 1948." ARTnews 47 (January 1949): 40-41. Mentioned: p. 40
ARTnews Annual 1949. New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc, 1949. P. 72-73. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 72-73
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). Van Gogh, Paintings and Drawings; A Special Loan Exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, 1949-1950. New York: Metropolitan Museum. 1949-50. 1949. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 123
Schapiro, Meyer. Vincent Van Gogh. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1950. Reproduced: p. 112
Leymarie, Jean. Van Gogh. [Paris]: P. Tisné, 1951. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 128, no. 123
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org
Hanson, Lawrence, and Elisabeth Hanson. Passionate Pilgrim; The Life of Vincent Van Gogh. New York: Random House, 1955. Mentioned: p. 264; reproduced: between p. 178-179
Rewald, John. Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1956. Reproduced: p. 357
Huyghe, René. L'Art et l'Homme. Paris: Larousse, 1957. Reproduced: vol. 3, p. 403
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 513 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art. In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 1958. Reproduced: no. 53
Milliken, William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 55
Elgar, Frank. Van Gogh, A Study of His Life and Work. New York: Praeger, 1958. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 188
Henning, Edward B. "From Turner to Gaston." Apollo: A Journal of the Arts 78 (December 1963): 481-488. Reproduced: p. 484; mentioned: p. 486-487
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 178 archive.org
Bourniquel, Camille. Van Gogh. Paris, FR] Hachette, 1968. Reproduced: p. 211
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 178 archive.org
Gaunt, William. The Impressionists. London, UK: Thames & Hudson, 1970. Reproduced: p. 142
Nakayama, Kimio. Gogh. Tokyo, Japan: [Shueisha], 1970. Reproduced: p. 132; no. 56; vol. 8
De la Faille, J.-B. The Works of Vincent Van Gogh; His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff International, 1970. Reproduced: no. 657
Lecaldano, Paolo. L'opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici. Milan, IT: Rizzoli,1971. Reproduced: no. 754; vol. 2
Lubin, Albert J. Stranger on the Earth; A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart Winston, 1972. Reproduced: p. 93; pl. 23
Gatto, Joseph A. Cities. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1977. Reproduced: p. 78
Gogh, Vincent van, Jean Leymarie, and V. W. van Gogh. Letters of Vincent van Gogh, 1886-1890: A Facsimile Edition. London: Scolar Press, 1977. Mentioned: v. 2, no. 618, p. 1/4; mentioned: v. 2, no. 621, p. 2/4
Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1980. Reproduced: p. 426; no. 428
Canaday, John. Mainstreams of Modern Art. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981. Reproduced: p. 357; fog. 418
Schapiro, Meyer. Vincent Van Gogh. Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1983. Reproduced: p. 110
Barrielle, Jean-François. La vie et l'œuvre de Vincent van Gogh. Paris, FR: ACR, 1984.
Pickvance, Ronald. Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. Mentioned: cat. no. 44, p. 304, 307
Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and Reproduced: p.106
Robinson, William. “George Hendrik Breitner and the Emergence of Dutch Modernism.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 2 (1994): 27-43. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32 www.jstor.org
Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 306-309, Vol. I, no. 109
Grossvogel, Jill. Claude-Emile Schuffenecker: Catalogue Raisonné. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 2000. Mention: p. 45
May, Sally Ruth. Knockouts: a pocket guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: no. 51, p. 51
Hughes, Robert. The Portable Van Gogh. New York, NY: Universe, 2002. Reproduced: p. 344
Schapiro, Meyer. Vincent Van Gogh. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 2003. Mentioned: p. 110-111
Stokstad, Marilyn, David Cateforis, and Stephen Addiss. Art History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. Reproduced: fig 28
Cogeval, Guy, and Marie-Paule Vial. Right under the sun: landscape in Provence from classicism to modernism (1750-1920). Montréal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2005. Reproduced: p. 143; no. 186
Corty, Axelle. “La Face Cachée Du Soleil.” Connaissance Des Arts, no. 627 (May 2005): 42–55. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 46-47
Burgess, Margaret B., "Side by Side", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 45 no. 05, May/June 2005 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7 archive.org
"L'Oeil sur les Expositions." Oeil (June 2005): 16-37. Reproduced: p. 34
Bailey, Martin. "Vincent van Cloth." The Art Newspaper XVI, no. 183 (September 2007): 3. Mentioned: p. 3
Ligon, Scott. Digital Art Revolution: Creating Fine Art with Photoshop. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill, 2010. Mentioned: p. 31
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: p. 272-273
Hubert, Jean-Christophe. Sur les traces de Van Gogh. Waterloo, Belgium: Avant-Propos, 2012. Reproduced: p. 118; fig. 478
Robinson, William H., Eliza Rathbone, Marcia Steele, and H. Travers Newton. "The Road Menders." In Van Gogh Repetitions, 140-153. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. Reproduced: p. 140, 142, cat. no. 26
Rathbone, Eliza E., William H. Robinson, and Marcia Steele. Van Gogh Repetitions. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. Reproduced: 0. 142; Mentioned: p. 140-153
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 292
Fensom, Sarah E. "Hitting Repeat" Art & Antiques 37, issue 3 (March 2014): 54-56. Reproduced: p. 55
Homburg, Cornelia. "What Van Gogh Did Next." The Art Newspaper 23, no. 257 (May 2014): 67, 76. Reproduced: p. 76
Blanc, Jan. Van Gogh: ni Dieu ni maître. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 2017. Reproduced: p. 304-305
Bailey, Martin. Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum. London, England: White Lion Publishing, 2018. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 95-96
Uitert, Evert van, Vincent van Gogh, Louis van Tilborgh, and Sjraar van Heugten. Vincent van Gogh. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Arte, 1990. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 109, p. 31
Mettais, Valérie. Van Gogh: The Essential Paintings. Munich: Prestel, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 36-37, booklet
Homburg, Cornelia, Christopher Riopelle, Renske Cohen Tervaert, Julien Domercq, Michael Glover, Cindy Kang, et al. Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers. London: National Gallery Global, 2024. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30-31, 220-221, 222, no. 15
Vincent van Gogh: Poets and Lovers. National Gallery, London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (September 14, 2024-January 19, 2025) https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/van-gogh-poets-and-lovers.
There's Nothing Like the Real Thing: Van Gogh at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 17-December 5, 2021).
Van Gogh Repetitions. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 12, 2013-February 2, 2014); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 2-May 26, 2014).
Van Gogh: Up Close. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (January 26-May 6, 2012); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (organizer) (May 25-September 2, 2012).
Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).
Right Under the Sun: Painting in Provence from Classicism to Modernism (1750-1920). Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer) (September 22, 2005-January 8, 2006).
Masterworks from The Phillips Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-May 29, 2005).
Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh Museum, 1070 AJ Amsterdam, Netherlands (March 30-July 29, 1990).
Vincent van Gogh 1990. Kröller-Müller Museum (co-organizer) (March 30-July 29, 1990); Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 30-July 29, 1990).
Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).
Van Gogh in St. Remy and Auvers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (November 25, 1986-March 22, 1987).
Société des Artistes Indépendants.Pavillon de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (1890).
In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
Four Modes of Composition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 27, 1954).
Van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (October 21, 1949-January 15, 1950); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (February 1-April 15, 1950).
Work by Vincent Van Gogh. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3-December 12, 1948).
Exhibition of Masters of French 19th Century Painting. New Burlington Galleries,London, United Kingdom (1936).
Retrospective Exhibition of Landscape Painting. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (1931).
Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA (1929).
Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1929).
Quelques oeuvres de Vincent van Gogh. Galerie Druet, Paris, France (1908).
Exposition Vincent van Gogh. Boulevard à St-Rémy, Provence, France:1889-90. Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, France (1901).
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Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.209