Trees and Undergrowth is the subject of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made in Paris, Saint-Rémy and Auvers, from 1887 through 1890. Before becoming an artist Van Gogh wrote romantically about ivy, whether climbing up the walls of a cottage or catching rays of sunshine through trees on the forest floor. His letters evoked and made reference to a favored Charles Dickens poem, "Ivy Green". Van Gogh made several paintings of undergrowth, a genre called "sous-bois" brought into prominence by artists of the Barbizon School and Impressionists. The works from this series successfully use shades of color and light in the forest or garden interior paintings. Van Gogh selected one of his Saint-Rémy paintings, Ivy (F609) for the Brussels Les XX exhibition in 1890.