Oleanders — Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Van Gogh painted Oleanders in August 1888 at the Yellow House in Arles, and described the plant in letters to his brother as something joyful, almost insistent — life in flower. The bouquet sits close, frank and warm, treated with the directness he reserved for things he loved. A card that carries that frank warmth into correspondence, or onto a desk. From the Vincent van Gogh collection.