For Garden in Sochi, Arshile Gorky drew upon his childhood memories of Armenia. Inspired by the Surrealists’ emphasis on subjects drawn from dreams and the subconscious, Gorky conveyed his recollections of villagers visiting his father’s garden: “This garden was identified as the Garden of Wish Fulfillment…. Above all stood an enormous tree all bleached under the rain, the cold, and deprived of leaves. This was the Holy Tree.… I had witnessed many people, whoever did pass by, that would tear voluntarily a strip of their clothes and attach this to the tree.”