Portrait of Eugène Benon
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824 - 1898), 1882
oil on canvas, 60.6 cm x 54.5 cm
Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (purchased with support from the VriendenLoterij)
Puvis de Chavannes portrayed his good friend Eugène Benon in a domestic setting, engrossed in a popular novel. Benon’s farsightedness forced him to lean back and hold the book at a distance.
Van Gogh admired Puvis de Chavannes. He saw this painting in Paris at the end of 1887 and wrote about it two years later in a letter to his brother Theo: ‘As to figure, the portrait of a man by Puvis de Chavannes has always remained an ideal for me.’ The casual nature of the portrait combined with Van Gogh’s passion for literature contributed to his appreciation of the work.
Van Gogh had a phenomenal visual memory. Three years after seeing this painting, he incorporated similar novels, as well as a glass with flowers, into a portrait he made of his friend Dr Gachet.
- Object number
- s0552S2022
- Dimensions
- 60.6 cm x 54.5 cm, 89 cm x 83 cm, 8.5 cm
- Provenance
- Possibly acquired from the artist by Eugène Benon; possibly M. Hermann, 1887; Eugène Benon’s son, Louis Georges Benon, probably 1894-1895; probably after his death in 1895 his widow Anne Anastasie Benon (Meyer); probably after her death inherited by her daughter Germaine Marie Adeline Benon and her son in law Adolphe Joseph Largillière, Cambrai; probably consigned by them to auction Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Tableaux Anciens, Dessins, Aquarelles, Pastels, Tableaux Modernes), lot 48 (Portrait de Monsieur E. Denon [sic]), purchased by Henri M.H.X. Puvis de Chavannes, Paris, 16 June 1954; acquired by a private collector; from whom acquired by private collectors; sold by them to the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 10 November 2022.
- artist
- Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
- Credits
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (purchased with support from the VriendenLoterij)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, De keuze van Vincent. Van Goghs Musée imaginaire, 14 February-15 June 2003, no. 16
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 25 February-29 May 1994, no. 89
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Puvis de Chavannes 1824-1898, 18 March-1 May 1977, no. 159
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Puvis de Chavannes 1824-1898, 26 November 1976-14 February 1977, no. 159
Lyon, Société Lyonnaise des Beaux-Arts, [titel onbekend], 1890, no. 639
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Exposition de tableaux, pastels, dessins par Puvis de Chavannes, 20 November-20 December 1887, no. 20
Brown Price, Aimée, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes II : a catalogue raisonné of the painted work, 2010, pp. 254-255
