# Avenue of Pollard Birches and Poplars

**Vincent van Gogh** (Dutch, 1853–1890)  
March 1884  
Reed pen and iron-gall ink on tan laid paper  
19.2 × 26.5 cm (7 9/16 × 10 7/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.74. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/202382).

## About this work

A row of pollarded birches and poplars lines a country road near the village of Nuenen in the southern Netherlands, where Van Gogh lived with his parents from late 1883. He drew it in March 1884 with a reed pen and iron-gall ink, building the stark, bare trees, the receding road and the wintry light from bold strokes and fine hatching. This early drawing, made before he discovered brilliant colour in Paris, shows his patient study of the Dutch countryside and his admiration for printmakers and illustrators.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Vincent van Gogh painted this (March 1884), aged 31. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of reed pen and iron-gall ink on tan laid paper.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Pen and ink.** Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Vincent van Gogh](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/vincent-van-gogh)

Dutch, 1853–1890; born in Zundert; died in Auvers-sur-Oise

Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and lay preacher before he turned to art in 1880, at twenty-seven. His early pictures of Dutch peasants are dark and heavy; in Paris from 1886 he met the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, and his palette brightened. In Arles in 1888–89 he painted with intense colour and thick, directional strokes, and he worked on at the asylum in Saint-Rémy and finally at Auvers-sur-Oise. The Poet’s Garden belongs to a group made to decorate Gauguin’s room in the Yellow House.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawing and Watercolor
- Culture: Netherlands
- The artist was 31
- Real size: about 7½ × 10 in (19 × 26 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/350.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/350/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/avenue-of-pollard-birches-and-poplars-aic-202382).