Birds' Nests
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, September-October 1885
oil on canvas, 39.3 cm x 46.5 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
For a while, Van Gogh was fascinated with birds' nests. In 1885, he made them the subject of five still lifes in a row. He wrote to his brother Theo that he thought these would appeal to nature lovers, 'because of the colours of the moss, dry leaves and grasses, clay &c.'.
Earlier that summer, Vincent had told Theo how he got the nests. He had gone out with a peasant boy to look for them. They found six, 'from which the young had already flown, so that one could take them without too many pangs of conscience.'
- F-number
- F0111
- JH-number
- JH0939
- Object number
- s0001V1962
- Dimensions
- 39.3 cm x 46.5 cm, 52 cm x 59.3 cm, 6.5 cm
- Provenance
- Possibly sent by the artist from Nuenen to his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, c. 13 October 1885; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; given on loan by Jo van Gogh-Bonger to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, from 1917 to 1919; given on loan by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, from 1927 to 1930; given on loan from Vincent Willem van Gogh, to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, since 22 October 1931; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 10 July 1962; agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; 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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