Soup Distribution in a Public Soup Kitchen
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), The Hague, March 1883
chalk, brush and paint, watercolour, on paper, 56.5 cm x 44.4 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh saw soup being distributed at the public soup kitchen in The Hague and made sketches on the spot. Later he produced this drawing, slightly modifying the scene. He did so in his studio, using models. So the scene in the picture is actually staged.
The woman on the right can be identified as Sien – a former prostitute with whom Van Gogh live for a time. She posed for him quite often, as did her daughter, here wearing the white bonnet. The baby on the left is probably her other child.
- F-number
- F1020a
- JH-number
- JH0330
- Object number
- d0783V1972
- Dimensions
- 56.5 cm x 44.4 cm
- Provenance
- Sent by the artist from The Hague to his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, 4 March 1883; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered by Jo van Gogh-Bonger until November 1912; November 1912 sold by Jo van Gogh-Bonger to Kunsthandel Artz en De Bois, The Hague for NLG 1.200, November 1912; Kunsthandel J.H. de Bois, Haarlem, 1918; Kunstzaal d’Audretsch, The Hague; Kunstzalen Unger en Van Mens, Rotterdam; Arthur Stoll, Arlesheim-Corseaux, 1953; 18 November 1972 sale Bern, Kornfeld und Klipstein (Kunstwerke aus der Sammlung Arthur Stoll), lot 81 (Die Armensuppe), bought by the Theo van Gogh Foundation, Laren for CHF 101.000; transferred to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 1982; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
- artist
- Vincent van Gogh
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
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