These palms are driving me crazy; the motifs are extremely difficult to seize, to put on canvas; it's so bushy everywhere, although delightful to the eye... I would like to do orange and lemon trees silhouetted against the blue sea, but cannot find them as I would like.

1884 letter from Bordighera to friends in Paris, January 1884; as quoted in: Joslyn Art Museum, Holliday T. Day, Hollister Sturges (1987), Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings and Sculpture from the European and American Collections, p. 100 - 1870–1890