Portrait of Vincent van Gogh
Currently on view
John Russell (1858 - 1930), Paris, 1886
oil on canvas, 60.1 cm x 45.6 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
The Australian painter John Peter Russell got to know Vincent at Fernand Cormon’s studio. He painted this portrait of his friend in 1886 in a conventional, realistic style. It is clearly influenced by photography, although the face and the hand still show Impressionist touches. The portrait was not so dark originally. Another artist, Archibald Standish Hartrick, met Van Gogh at Russell’s studio. He later recalled: ‘[Russell] had just completed that portrait of him in a striped blue suit.’ You can indeed just make out a few little blue stripes at the lower edge of the painting. Analysis has revealed, moreover, that the words ‘Vincent, in friendship’ were painted in red over Van Gogh’s head. In Hartrick’s view, this was the most accurate portrait of Van Gogh – more realistic than the likenesses done by other artists or any of Vincent’s self-portraits. Van Gogh was very attached to it. Years later, he wrote to Theo: ‘take good care of my portrait by Russell, which means a lot to me.
- Object number
- s0273V1962
- Dimensions
- 60.1 cm x 45.6 cm, 77.3 cm x 62.3 cm, 9.5 cm
- Provenance
- Probably exchanged by the artist with Vincent van Gogh, Paris, autumn 1886; left by Vincent van Gogh at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris; 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
- John Russell
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Kiezen voor Vincent. Portret van een familiegeschiedenis, 10 February-10 April 2023
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, In the Picture. Kunstenaarsportretten, 21 February-30 August 2020
Den Bosch, Noordbrabants Museum, Van Goghs intimi. Vrienden, familie, modellen, 21 September 2019-12 January 2020, no. 44
Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 15 July-23 September 2013
Sendai, Miyagi Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 26 May-8 July 2013
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh aan het werk, 1 May 2013-13 January 2014
Kyoto, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 30 March-19 May 2013
Seoul, Seoul Arts Center, Van Gogh in Paris. A dialogue with modernism, 4 November 2012-24 March 2013
Nagasaki, Huis ten Bosch (Japan), Van Gogh in Paris: New perspectives, 29 July-28 October 2012
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh in Antwerpen en Parijs: nieuwe inzichten, 22 June-18 September 2011
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Goghs brieven. De kunstenaar aan het woord, 9 October 2009-3 January 2010
Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Van Gogh in context, 26 July-25 September 2005, no. 60
Ōsaka, National Museum of Art, Van Gogh in context, 31 May-18 July 2005, no. 60
Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo), Van Gogh in context, 23 March-22 May 2005, no. 60
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Theo van Gogh 1857-1891. Marchand de tableaux, collectionneur, frère de Vincent, 27 September 1999-9 January 2000, no. 111
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Theo van Gogh 1857-1891. Kunsthandelaar, verzamelaar en broer van Vincent, 24 June-5 September 1999
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Van Gogh. Die Pariser Selbstbildnisse, 17 March-28 May 1995
Tokyo, Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh and his time. Van Gogh & portraits from the Van Gogh Museum and the H.W. Mesdag Museum, 14 September-13 November 1994, no. 24
Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Vincent van Gogh and Japan, 4 April-24 May 1992, no. 39
Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), Vincent van Gogh and Japan, 18 February-29 March 1992, no. 39
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Van Gogh à Paris, 2 February-15 May 1988, no. 105
Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, John Peter Russell : Australian impressionist, 21 May-26 June 1978, no. 44
Melbourne, The National Gallery of Victoria, John Peter Russell : Australian impressionist, 30 March-6 May 1978, no. 44
Brisbane, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, John Peter Russell : Australian impressionist, 25 February-19 March 1978, no. 44
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, John Peter Russell : Australian impressionist, 10 January-12 February 1978, no. 44
London, Wildenstein, John Peter Russell 1858-1931 : Australian Impressionist, July-August 1965, no. 6
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Van Gogh Selfportraits, October 1960
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Collectie Theo van Gogh, April-May 1960, no. 144
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Collectie Theo van Gogh, February 1960, no. 144
Mons, Museum voor Schoone Kunsten, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Son art et ses amis, 22 March-5 May 1958, no. 102
Antwerp, Zaal Comité voor Artistieke Werking, Vincent van Gogh, 7 May-19 June 1955, no. 10
Eindhoven, Van Abbemuseum, Vincent van Gogh, 22 March-4 May 1952, no. 81
Enschede, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Vincent van Gogh, 20 February-16 March 1952, no. 80
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh, 14 September-1 December 1945, no. zonder nr.
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Vincent van Gogh, 28 April-24 May 1936, no. 67
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh, 25 March-19 April 1936, no. 67
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Vincent van Gogh, 19 February-15 March 1936, no. 67
New York, Museum of Modern Art (New York), Vincent van Gogh, 5 November 1935-5 January 1936, no. 67
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 15 July-1 September 1905, no. c
Galbally, Ann, art of John Peter Russell, 1977, pp. 33-34, 38-39, 41
