Nine oranges and lemons sit in a shallow basket with dark green, spiky branches behind and a pair of cobalt-blue gloves in front in this horizontal still life painting. The scene is painted with long, loose brushstrokes, which are visible throughout. The muted orange and golden yellow fruit are outlined with blue, as is the woven basket in which they sit. The two cypress branches behind and to either side of the basket are painted with sky blue along the stems and long, bristly needles. The gloves sit one atop the other near the lower right corner, and the top glove has three brown stripes down the back. The surface beneath the still life is sand brown, and the pale turquoise background takes up the top third of the composition. The artist signed and dated this with the location in the lower right corner, “Vincent Arles 89.”

Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves

Vincent van Gogh

Nine oranges and lemons sit in a shallow basket with dark green, spiky branches behind and a pair of cobalt-blue gloves in front in this horizontal still life painting. The scene is painted with long, loose brushstrokes, which are visible throughout. The muted orange and golden yellow fruit are outlined with blue, as is the woven basket in which they sit. The two cypress branches behind and to either side of the basket are painted with sky blue along the stems and long, bristly needles. The gloves sit one atop the other near the lower right corner, and the top glove has three brown stripes down the back. The surface beneath the still life is sand brown, and the pale turquoise background takes up the top third of the composition. The artist signed and dated this with the location in the lower right corner, “Vincent Arles 89.”

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Vincent van Gogh
Date
1889
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 48 × 62 cm (18 7/8 × 24 7/16 in.) framed: 65.72 × 79.38 × 8.57 cm (25 7/8 × 31 1/4 × 3 3/8 in.)
Department
CF
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

Select a color to find related artworks.

Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Art Genome Taxonomy

8 tags

Subject Matter

  • Still Life Both · 99%

    The title and catalog description identify a still life of nine oranges and lemons, a basket, branches, and gloves arranged within a horizontal composition.

  • Flora Both · 98%

    Dark green, spiky branches visibly occupy the background and sides of the composition; the catalog describes them as cypress branches.

Visual Qualities

  • Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 97%

    The composition uses saturated oranges, yellows, cobalt blue, greens, and pale turquoise, creating pronounced warm-cool contrast.

  • Asymmetrical Visual · 95%

    The basket and fruit form a compact center-left cluster, while the gloves extend toward the lower right and the branches spread unevenly across the background.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Both · 99%

    The catalog identifies the work as a painting in oil on canvas, and the image visibly presents a painted composition.

  • Oil Painting Both · 99%

    The catalog specifies oil on canvas, and the image visibly shows directional, painterly handling across the fruit, basket, branches, gloves, and background.

  • Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 98%

    Long, loose brushstrokes remain clearly visible throughout the composition rather than being blended into a smooth finish.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog dates the work to 1889, placing it within the nineteenth century.

Source & rights

Vincent van Gogh. Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

Related

Loading related artworks…