Van Gogh, 'Pollard Willows at Sunset', (1888) Under a throbbing sun, trees stand tall, coldly blue against the summer glow. Gnarled, knobby and defiant, they raise their hands to the yellow sky, where, high above, a shining globe dispenses lemon-coloured radiance. As the sun sinks, the trees settle down for a brief night of repose, whilst the sap still rises, triumphant, resisting, mirroring the cut and thrust of life. Together, they reach for the sky. Behind them the coruscating water proclaims its own blue indispensability: light, warmth and water, hallowed gifts of life on which the whole earth depends. Julia
