Portrait of a Man
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, October 1889
oil on canvas, 32.2 cm x 23.3 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This man was a fellow-patient at the psychiatric clinic in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh wrote to his mother, ‘It is strange that when one is with them for some time and is used to them, one no longer thinks about their being mad.’ In fact, following a severe crisis in the autumn he had become afraid of the other inmates.
Even so, he painted two portraits of them, including this quick oil sketch. Did he do it to overcome his anxiety? The top left-hand corner of the picture was damaged shortly after it was painted. Nobody knows how.
- F-number
- F0703
- JH-number
- JH1832
- Object number
- s0081V1962
- Dimensions
- 32.2 cm x 23.3 cm, 41.8 cm x 33 cm, 6.5 cm
- Provenance
- With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after October 1889; 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, on 10 July 1962 to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam (ratified 28 December 1970); 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 waanzin nabij. Van Gogh en zijn ziekte, 15 July-25 September 2016, no. zonder nr.
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Gogh Modern. Vincent van Gogh en de hedendaagse kunst, 27 June-12 October 2003, no. zonder nr.
Vienna, Kunstforum Wien, Kunst und Wahn, 5 September-8 December 1997, no. 348
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, Voor gek gehouden, 11 December 1982-6 March 1983, no. zonder nr.
Marseille, Musée Cantini, Expressionnisme Allemand 1900-1920, 17 May-15 August 1965, no. 2
Echte, B., Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Jr., Cordioli, P., Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer : die Ausstellungen 1912 - 1914, 2016, p. 66-67