Cypresses was painted in late june 1889, shortly after van gogh began his yearlong voluntary stay as a patient in the asylum in saint-rémy. the subject, which he found "as beautiful of line and proportion as an egyptian obelisk, " both captivated and challenged the artist: "it is a splash of black in a sunny landscape, but it is one of the most interesting black notes and the most difficult to hit off exactly that i can imagine." van gogh"s initial fascination with cypresses resulted in three paintings: two showing the "big and massive trees" at close range, in vertical format (this and one in the kröller-müller museum, otterlo) and a majestic horizontal view, wheat field with cypresses (1993.132), which he later repeated in two variants.