Willow by the Aven

A tree rises tall from the grassy foreground, and at the right a slender-trunked tree cuts vertically through the picture. On the left is a reddish hill, and at the back right the water of the river and houses can be seen. Fine brush marks overlay a sky tinged with pale violet. It is oil on canvas, measuring 76.2 x 62.5 cm.

According to the museum's commentary, Pont-Aven is a small village in Brittany that strongly preserves Celtic traditions, and it drew many painters from the 1860s on. Gauguin first visited in 1886 and stayed on four occasions from 1886 to 1894. This picture dates from his second stay, and it shows a move toward bolder composition and color even as it keeps some Impressionist elements.

The tree cutting through the right of the picture recalls the ukiyo-e of Utagawa Hiroshige and is an important element of the composition. It had been painted over by an owner after 1938, but a recent restoration brought it back to its original state. Why it was erased, and what the person who altered it intended, is unknown. The commentary also explains that the river at the depicted spot was dredged from the late 19th to the early 20th century, and that the picture shows soil piled on the road in front of the building at the back right and the hill on the left being cut for a road. In October of this year, Gauguin was invited by van Gogh to Arles and lived with him there.