Kneeling Ecorché
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, June 1886
oil on cardboard, 35.2 cm x 26.8 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
An écorché is a figure shown without skin, so that all the muscles and tendons are visible. Such figures are used as aids in studying anatomy. Van Gogh had this type of plaster model, which he depicted here. He was then studying at the Antwerp art academy.
The painting is an exercise in suggesting volume. In traditional painting, volume is created through the play of light and shadow. But here Van Gogh tried to achieve the same effect through the thickness of his paint and the direction of his brushstrokes.
- F-number
- F0216f
- JH-number
- JH1076
- Object number
- s0102V1962
- Dimensions
- 35.2 cm x 26.8 cm, 44 cm x 36 cm, 6.0 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, mid June 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)
Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Cézanne. Metamorphoses, 28 October 2017-11 February 2018
Arles, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Van Gogh en Provence : la tradition modernisée, 14 May-11 September 2016
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh aan het werk, 1 May 2013-13 January 2014
Nagoya, Nagoya City Art Museum, Van Gogh. The adventure of becoming an artist, 22 February-10 April 2011, no. 58
Fukuoka, Kyushu National Museum, Van Gogh. The adventure of becoming an artist, 28 December 2010-13 February 2011, no. 58
Tokyo, National Art Center, Van Gogh.The adventure of becoming an artist, 1 October-20 December 2010, no. 58
Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Pygmalions Werkstatt. Die Erschaffung des Menschen im Atelier von der Renaissance bis zum Surrealismus, 8 September-25 November 2001, no. 98
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Van Gogh te gast in het Rijksmuseum. Meesterwerken van het Van Gogh Museum, 19 September 1998-2 May 1999
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh, 24 June-September 1955, no. 77c
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Vincent van Gogh. Collectie ir. V.W. van Gogh, 12 October 1948-10 January 1949, no. 46
Hulsker, Jan, complete Van Gogh : paintings, drawings, sketches, 1980, p. 233
