Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin
Currently on view
Emile Bernard (1868 - 1941), Pont-Aven, 1888
oil on canvas, 46 cm x 56 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Bernard painted this self-portrait in the French seaside village of Pont-Aven. He was working there with Paul Gauguin (shown in the background of the picture). A Japanese woodcut print is visible at bottom right.
Van Gogh had asked his two friends to make portraits of each other. But Bernard didn’t dare: he was only 20 and intimidated by Gauguin, who was twice his age. So each of them sent a self-portrait featuring a sketch of the other. Beside his signature, Bernard wrote a dedication to his friend (‘copain’) Van Gogh. The added ‘g’ at the end of ‘copain’ was a joke about the local accent in Provence, where Van Gogh was living.
- Object number
- s0206V1962
- Dimensions
- 46 cm x 56 cm, 60.5 cm x 69.5 cm, 57 cm
- Provenance
- Exchanged by the artist, Pont-Aven, with Vincent van Gogh, Arles, 4 or 5 October 1888; sent by Vincent van Gogh from Arles to his brother, Theo van Gogh, Paris, 30 April 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, 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; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973, and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
- artist
- Emile Bernard
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh & Japan, 24 March-24 June 2018
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Emile Bernard (1868-1941), la peinture en colère, 16 September 2014-5 January 2015
Gothenburg, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Friction of Ideas: Gauguin, Van Gogh, Bernard, 19 July-19 October 2014, no. 125
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh aan het werk, 1 May 2013-13 January 2014, no. 240
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Goghs brieven. De kunstenaar aan het woord, 9 October 2009-3 January 2010
New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, Painted with Words. Vincent van Gogh's letters to Emile Bernard, 28 September 2007-6 January 2008, no. 73
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, De keuze van Vincent. Van Goghs Musée imaginaire, 14 February-15 June 2003, no. 170
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh en Gauguin. Het atelier van het zuiden, 9 February-2 June 2002, no. 27
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin. The Studio of the South, 22 September 2001-13 January 2002, no. 27
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Theo van Gogh 1857-1891. Marchand de tableaux, collectionneur, frère de Vincent, 27 September 1999-9 January 2000, no. 85
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Theo van Gogh 1857-1891. Kunsthandelaar, verzamelaar en broer van Vincent, 24 June-5 September 1999, no. 170
Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Vincent van Gogh and Japan, 4 April-24 May 1992, no. 45
Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), Vincent van Gogh and Japan, 18 February-29 March 1992, no. 45
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Emile Bernard, 24 August-4 November 1990, no. 56
Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Emile Bernard 1868-1941. A Pioneer of Modern Art, 12 May-5 August 1990, no. 56
Washington, National Gallery of Art, Post-Impressionism. Cross-Currents in European and American Painting 1880-1906, 25 May-1 September 1980, no. 137
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Post-Impressionism. Cross-Currents in European Painting, 17 November 1979-16 March 1980, no. 137
Amsterdam, Museum Fodor, Zonder titel, October-November 1970
Amsterdam, Museum Fodor, October-December 1969
Stockholm, Thielska Galleriet, Emile Bernard : målningar, akvareller, teckningar, grafik, 5 April-15 August 1969, no. 8
Sophienholm-Kunstmuseum, Emile Bernard : målningar, akvareller, teckningar, grafik, 2 February-30 March 1969, no. 8
Gothenburg, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Emile Bernard : målningar, akvareller, teckningar, grafik, 13 December 1968-26 January 1969, no. 8
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Lille), Emile Bernard 1868-1941 : peintures, dessins, gravures, 12 April-12 June 1967, no. 20
Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Emile Bernard 1868-1941 : peintures, dessins, gravures, 5 February-2 April 1967, no. 20
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Pont-Aven. Gauguin und sein Kreis in der Bretagne, 5 March-11 April 1966, no. 99
London, Tate Gallery, Gauguin and the Pont-Aven group, 7 January-13 February 1966, no. 84
Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Die Nabis und ihre Freunde, 23 October 1963-6 January 1964, no. 7
Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam besöker Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 26 December 1961-28 January 1962, no. 12
Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Stedelijk Museum besoger Louisiana, 28 October-3 December 1961
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Collectie Theo van Gogh, April-May 1960, no. 7
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Collectie Theo van Gogh, February 1960, no. 7
Mons, Museum voor Schoone Kunsten, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Son art et ses amis, 22 March-5 May 1958, no. 90
Antwerp, Zaal Comité voor Artistieke Werking, Vincent van Gogh, 7 May-19 June 1955, no. 13
Amsterdam, 't Binnenhuis, Tentoonstelling van moderne kunst. Georganiseerd ten bate van het Russische Roode Kruis, 14 November-December 1915
Jansen, Leo, Luijten, Hans, Bakker, Nienke, Vincent van Gogh - De brieven : De volledige, geïllustreerde en geannoteerde uitgave : Deel 4 : Arles, 1888-1889, 2009, pp. 268, 297
