Head of a Woman
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, November 1884-January 1885
oil on canvas, 42 cm x 33.3 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh hoped one day to become a figure painter. So he was constantly drawing and painting studies of heads. He made portraits of countless men and women who worked on farms around Nuenen (NL). To him, these were not portraits of individuals but depictions of types. In his eyes, they represented the hard life of farm workers.
Above this woman's left eye (on the right of the painting) is a black dot: her pupil. This bit of paint shifted after the painting was done and ended up on her eyelid.
- F-number
- F0156
- JH-number
- JH0569
- Object number
- s0072V1962
- Dimensions
- 42 cm x 33.3 cm, 58.5 cm x 50 cm, 9 cm
- Provenance
- With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after January 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; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren, 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)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, De Aardappeleters: misser of meesterwerk?, 8 October 2021-13 February 2022
s Hertogenbosch, Noordbrabants Museum, Rondom de pastorie, 10 October-20 December 2015
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Vanbeselaere, Walther, Vermeylen, August, hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), 1937, p. 292, 341, 343, 415
