Flame Nettle in a Flowerpot
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, June-July 1886
oil on canvas, 42.1 cm x 21.9 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
The subject could hardly be more domestic: a pot plant like this is something you expect to see on a windowsill, not in a Van Gogh painting. But he painted the flame nettle as a colour study.
He has used what are called ‘complementary colours’. For instance, the mainly rusty orange leaves are set against the contrasting blue of the background. And he has deliberately placed occasional green and red accents next to each other on the stem of the plant and elsewhere. Colour pairs of this kind are basic to the colour theory of French artist Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Van Gogh was a great admirer of Delacroix.
- F-number
- F0281
- JH-number
- JH1143
- Object number
- s0185V1962
- Dimensions
- 42.1 cm x 21.9 cm, 50.7 cm x 30.7 cm, 4.7 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, sometime between the end of June and mid-July 1886; 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, Van Gogh in Antwerpen en Parijs: nieuwe inzichten, 22 June-18 September 2011
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Vincent van Gogh. Collectie ir. V.W. van Gogh, 12 October 1948-10 January 1949, no. 69
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 21 Gemälde von Vincent van Gogh, 10 June 1932-1932
London, Leicester Galleries, Vincent van Gogh, June 1930, no. 9
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh tentoonstelling ter gelegenheid van het internationale jeugdfeest der S.J.I., 15 May-15 June 1926, no. 45
Leiden, Het Leidsche Volkshuis, Schilderijen en tekeningen van Van Gogh, 14-18 November 1910
Berlin, Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, [titel onbekend], October 1908
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 15 July-1 September 1905, no. 87
Rotterdam, Kunstzalen Oldenzeel, Vincent van Gogh schilderijen en teekeningen, March 1892
Lanfear, Ibby, An investigation into the use, fading and surface deterioration of red lake pigments in the works of Van Gogh, focusing on six paintings from his Antwerp and Paris periods., p. 27-34
