# Weeping Tree

**Vincent van Gogh** (Dutch, 1853–1890)  
1889  
Reed pen and black-brown ink, with black chalk on off-white wove paper  
49.3 × 61.3 cm (19 7/16 × 24 3/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1945.31. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/52733).

## About this work

A weeping tree droops towards the ground in this drawing made with a reed pen in dense, varied marks of black-brown ink, with touches of black chalk. In the south of France Van Gogh developed a drawing style inspired partly by Japanese prints, using the cut reed to create a vocabulary of dots, dashes, hatching and swirls that convey texture, light and movement without colour. Drawings like this were often made as independent works, and they carry much of the force of his paintings.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Vincent van Gogh painted this in 1889, aged 36. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of reed pen and black-brown ink, with black chalk on off-white wove paper.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Chalk.** Natural black, red and white chalks. Used together on toned paper they could give the warmth of flesh with very little effort, and they were favourites for studies from life.
- **Pen and ink.** Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.

### [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 36
- Real size: about 19 × 24 in (49 × 61 cm). The 18 × 24 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/165.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/165/1920.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/weeping-tree-aic-52733).