Foxglove (digitalis) sprig Symbolism

Medicine/care with a double edge—healing in proper dose, toxic in excess; identifies the sitter’s medical profession.

Common Themes

Dreams, the surreal, and the unconsciousFlora & faunaMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Care, nursing, and compassionMortality & transience (memento mori)Melancholy & spleen

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh

Portrait of Dr. Gachet

Vincent van Gogh (1890)

Portrait of Dr. Gachet distills Van Gogh’s late ambition for a <strong>modern, psychological portrait</strong> into vibrating color and touch. The sitter’s head sinks into a greenish hand above a <strong>blazing orange-red table</strong>, foxglove sprig nearby, while waves of <strong>cobalt and ultramarine</strong> churn through coat and background. The chromatic clash turns a quiet pose into an <strong>empathic image of fragility and care</strong> <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.