Vincent van Gogh, 1853 - 1890, Dutch
Ladies of Arles, Memory of Etten
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Alexander Burkatousky Collection
SuperStock

Van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil, "I know this is hardly what one might call a likeness, but for me it renders the poetic character and style of the garden as I feel it.  So, let us suppose that the two ladies out for a walk are you and our mother...the somber violet with the blotch of citron yellow of the dahlias suggests Mother's personality to me..."