Small pear tree in blossom

Van Gogh was captivated by the flowering fruit trees in the Provence, so he made a whole series of paintings of trees in blossom during the spring of 1888. While still working on them, he had the idea to group the canvases into aesthetic combinations. From Arles, Van Gogh wrote about this work: 'I now also have a small pear tree, vertical, also flanked by two other horizontal canvases.' See letter to Theo van Gogh, 13 April 1888.