Pollard Birches, 1884
Van Gogh was known for his sketching from an early age, but only began to consider the idea of becoming a professional artist in his late 20s, after he failed at a number of other careers. His early paintings and drawings, created between 1881 and 1885 comprise mostly peasant subjects and gloomy scenery from the Brabant region of the Netherlands, depicted in drab earth tones. This pen and ink drawing of pollard birches, one of several landscapes he made in 1884, evokes a compelling if unforgiving landscape skillfully rendered in expressive lines and lots of hatching.
The artist was extremely fond of trees, especially of pollards, and wrote to his brother Théo in a letter that he saw “a kind of soul in them.” His empathetic perception might provide insight into this almost ritualistic procession of slender, gnarled trees. Their slight new shoots reach upward from the heavily pruned, battered branches in a gesture of anticipation for the warmth of spring. These pollard birches, like Vincent himself, seem at once tragic and hopeful, fragile but determined.