Etten-Leur: In Etten, Vincent discovered the pollard willows. Especially in the then Leursestraatje, he often drew them. In those representations he already showed the animistic way he looked at nature: He never drew just any tree, but tried to put a human emotion in it. For him, the pollarded willows symbolized the way in which people are also drawn by life. Later in southern France, he saw Christ's despair on the Mount of Olives reflected in the gnarled olive trees.
