Irises — Vincent van Gogh Postcard, 1889

The Saint-Rémy irises were Van Gogh's first painting after he entered the asylum in May 1889 — slow, sinuous, a kind of recovery in paint. Worked in the walled garden of the Saint-Paul institution, the canvas holds the weight of that moment without dramatising it. Today in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. A grounded card for someone returning to themselves, or for a desk that needs a long green breath. From the Vincent van Gogh collection.