Van Gogh painted many fruit orchards during his first weeks in Arles (FR). There is an earlier, nearly identical version of this painting, which Van Gogh had completed in one sitting. ‘I’d worked on a no. 20 canvas in the open air in an orchard — ploughed lilac field, a reed fence — two pink peach trees against a glorious blue and white sky. Probably the best landscape I’ve done’, he wrote.

When he returned home, he saw the death notice of Anton Mauve (1838-1888), his uncle by marriage. Mauve was a well-known painter from whom Van Gogh had once taken lessons. He dedicated that first work to Mauve and made this new version later to send to Theo.