 " In the olive trees — in the expressive power of their ancient and gnarled forms — Van Gogh found a manifestation of the spiritual force he believed resided in all of nature . His brushstrokes make the soil and even the sky seem alive with the same rustling motion as the leaves , stirred to a shimmer by the Mediterranean wind . These strong individual dashes do not seem painted so much as drawn onto the canvas with a heavily loaded brush . The energy in their continuous rhythm communicates to us , in an almost physical way , the living force that Van Gogh found within the trees themselves , the very spiritual force that he believed had shaped them . " 
