Natura morta con tre nidi d'uccello

In the autumn of 1885 Van Gogh was still living in the Dutch village of Nuenen, painting peasants and their world in earth-dark colours, years before the bright canvases everyone knows. He had started collecting real birds' nests, getting local boys to bring them in, and he set several of them down against a near-black background to paint. For him it was partly a study in tone, seeing how much he could pull out of browns and mossy greens. But he also felt something in the objects themselves. He had written to his brother Theo about his affection for nests, and for what he called those human nests, the thatched cottages on the heath and the people inside them. One of these is probably a wren's.