Marguerite Gachet au jardin

This was one of the last summers of Van Gogh's life. In May 1890 he came to Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, to be near Doctor Paul Gachet, who was meant to keep an eye on him. In June he painted the doctor's daughter Marguerite, about 20, moving through the family garden in a white dress among white roses. In a letter he described the white figure and the lemon-yellow flowers with real tenderness. There is some suggestion he was half in love with her, and that the doctor kept them apart. A few weeks after this, at the end of July, Van Gogh shot himself and died. Marguerite never married, and the painting stayed with the Gachet family until 1954.