Van Gogh Writing Paper Pad and Envelopes

The verso side of these writing sheets each features a gorgeous detail from a Van Gogh painting, each with a beautiful story:

Detail from Sunflowers:

To Van Gogh, the sunflower symbolized gratitude (tournesol, in French, means “turn to the sun.”) According to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Paul Gauguin had seen Van Gogh’s earlier sunflower paintings in Paris and was impressed by them. When Van Gogh learned that Gauguin was coming to the South of France to visit him, he painted several still lifes of the flower with which he decorated the guest bedroom. Gauguin called the paintings “completely Vincent.”

Detail from Almond Blossoms:

This is one of a group of several paintings the artist made in southern France, in 1888 and 1890, of blossoming almond trees, which represented awakening and hope. The paintings  were made to celebrate the birth of Van Gogh’s nephew and namesake, the son of his brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo.

Detail from Roses, 1890:

On the eve of his departure from the asylum in Saint-Rémy in May 1890, Van Gogh painted an exceptional group of four still lifes, to which The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roses belong. This painting was seized by the Nazis from Georg Simon Hirschland (1885–1942) in Essen in 1939, following Hirschland's emigration to the United States in 1938. It was restituted to his heirs in New York in 1950.

Detail from Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase:

     From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where this painting resides:
“This still life is not mentioned in Van Gogh’s letters and has puzzled scholars as to its place in his artistic production. However, the palette and style of this painting, especially its distinctive blues and ochers and graphic brick-shape hatchings, link it firmly with the landscapes made just prior to his death in Auvers on July 29, 1890.”

The Writing Paper Pad contains 64 sheets of heavy premium ivory paper. Thirty-two sheets are ruled and thirty-two are blank. The reverse side of each sheet is decorated with a work of art (sixteen sheets each of four illustrations).

The pad of writing paper is accompanied by 20 envelopes printed with detail from Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase. A framed blank space is left to accommodate the address of the recipient.

Pad: 64 sheets, 32 ruled and 32 blank; 6” x 8.25” (A5); decorated reverse; FSC responsible.

Envelopes: 20, one design; 6.25” x 4.25”; FSC responsible.

Designed and imported from Amsterdam; manufactured in Europe.