Courtesy of www.VincentVanGogh.org

This drawing was painted in 1884 using pen and brown ink, with touches of pen and black ink. This is one of a series of seven drawings Van Gogh worked on in the spring of 1884 for Brabant landscape. With these drawings Van Gogh reached his personal high points with the compelling compositions and his own artistic style. But unfortunately the drawings didn't bring him the success he had hoped during his lifetime.

Pollard trees are one of Van Gogh's favorite subject. The artist loved pollard tree's solitary figures and used that together with the lonely road to frame a feeling of loneliness. One should draw a pollard tree "as if it were a living being," he had once told Rappard; "focus all one's attention on that particular tree and not rest until there's some life in it".