Portrait of a Woman
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Antwerp, December 1885
oil on canvas, 46.3 cm x 38.5 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh hoped to earn some money as a portrait painter during his stay in Antwerp. He had heard that likenesses of women sold well. However, only women from the poorer segments of the population were willing to pose for an unknown painter. Van Gogh found his models among the women who worked in the port city’s cafés. They were often obliged to earn extra money as prostitutes, and this probably was the case for the woman portrayed here. Van Gogh was impressed with these ‘common’ women. He perceived an authenticity in them that he wanted to capture on canvas.
Van Gogh painted this portrait in one sitting. For the shiny earring he applied a thick blob of white-and-pink paint, which broke off later. He probably depicted the same woman in another work as well, though without jewellery and with her hair loose.
- F-number
- F0207a
- JH-number
- JH1204
- Object number
- s0143V1962
- Dimensions
- 46.3 cm x 38.5 cm, 66.4 cm x 58.1 cm, 8.6 cm
- Provenance
- With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after December 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; donated by Vincent Willem van Gogh to the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 11 March 1952; transferred by the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation to the Theo van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 28 December 1960; agreement concluded on 21 July 1962 between the (2nd) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 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; donated on 21 July 1962 by the Theo van Gogh Foundation to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation; 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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