Theo van gogh wrote to his brother vincent on january 31 1980 to announce the birth of his son as a means of celebration van gogh who was extremely close to his younger brother immediately began to work on a painting for theo and his wife in a letter to his mother he wrote i started right away to make a picture for him to hang in their bedroom big branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky the subject was one of his favourite blossoming branches against a blue sky as a sy