Vincent van Gogh | Irises
Vincent van Gogh | Irises
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- 100% hand-painted oil on canvas
- Delivered Framed & Ready to Hang!
- We stretch (Gallery Wrap) every canvas
- Hanging wire is attached to the back
- 100% Money Back Guarantee · Australian Owned
- Any questions? Please call us on 1300 90 21 53
About Irises by Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh painted Irises in May 1889, during his first week at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He had admitted himself days earlier. Not yet allowed beyond the walls, he painted what was in the garden.
He called it a lightning conductor for his illness — work as a way of holding himself together. There is no sign of distress in the picture. The irises crowd the whole canvas, cropped at the edges so the bed seems to continue past the frame, their leaves twisting in long green strokes against red-brown earth and a bank of orange marigolds behind. Blue against orange, green against red: complementary pairs at full strength, the same logic he used everywhere in Arles.
One iris, at the left, is white. Every other bloom is violet-blue. Van Gogh placed it there deliberately, and once you have seen it you cannot look at the picture without your eye going to it first.
Irises at a glance
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
- Painted: May 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
- Movement: Post-Impressionism
- Original: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- Medium: Oil on canvas, 71 × 93 cm
Common questions about Irises
Where is Irises now?
The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which acquired it in 1990.
Is it true an Australian once owned it?
Yes. In November 1987 the Perth businessman Alan Bond bought Irises at auction in New York for US$53.9 million — at the time the highest price ever paid for a work of art. It later emerged that Sotheby's had lent him roughly half the purchase price, a disclosure that shook confidence in the art market. Bond could not complete payment, and the Getty bought the painting in 1990.
When and where did Van Gogh paint Irises?
In the garden of the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in May 1889, within his first week there. He had committed himself voluntarily after the breakdown in Arles.
Why is one iris white?
A compositional decision. Among a mass of violet-blue blooms, the single white flower at the left anchors the eye and stops the bed reading as an undifferentiated field. Van Gogh used similar single accents elsewhere; there is no evidence he intended it symbolically, though plenty of people have read meaning into it since.
How much is Irises worth?
It is in the Getty's permanent collection and is not for sale. Its 1987 price of US$53.9 million would be well over US$140 million today, and Van Gogh's auction record now stands at around US$117 million for Orchard with Cypresses.
Own a hand-painted Irises
This is not a print. Every painting we sell is reproduced in oils on canvas, by hand, by professional artists — no giclée, no computer-generated technique.
The blues in this painting are not one blue. Each bloom is built from separate strokes of ultramarine, violet, near-black and cold white, laid side by side rather than blended, so that the bed reads as a mass of individual living flowers rather than a field of colour. Reproduction averages those strokes together — at any normal viewing size the distinct marks merge into a single flat blue and the irises stop being separate plants. Painted by hand in oils, the strokes stay strokes, and the bed keeps moving.
- A range of sizes — choose yours above.
- Framed and ready to hang, gallery wrap, or rolled canvas if you would rather frame it yourself.
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions.
- Free delivery Australia-wide. Australian owned and operated, with a local contact you can actually reach.
Framing Options: You have 3 choices
Option 1. Choose an outer frame - see images below.
You only need to choose one and the painting will be sent to you framed and ready to hang.
* Below is an example of a customer who chose the Gold Ornate frame
Option 2: Choose a Gallery Wrap Stretched Painting.
If you want the frameless modern gallery wrap look then you only need to choose Stretched Gallery Wrap from the finish option dropdown.
You receive your stretched gallery wrap painting ready to hang - with a hanging wire attached behind.
The back of the Stretched Gallery Wrap looks like the image below - it has a hanging wire!
Option 3: Choose Canvas Only if you want to frame the painting yourself.
Your painting will be sent to you in an art tube - you can then frame it yourself or take it to your local framer.
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