Early works of Vincent van Gogh
Encyclopedia
Early Works of Van Gogh is a group of paintings and drawings that Vincent van Gogh
made when he was 27 and 28, in 1881 and 1882, his first two years of serious artistic exploration. Over the course of the two year period Van Gogh lived in several places. He left Brussels, where he had studied for about a year in 1881, to return to his parent's home in Etten
, Netherlands
where he made studies of some of the residents of the town. In January 1882 Van Gogh went to The Hague
where he studied with his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve
and set up a studio, funded by Mauve. During the ten years of Van Gogh's artistic career from 1881 to 1890 Vincent's brother Theo
would be a continuing source of inspiration and financial support; his first financial support began in 1880 funding Vincent while he lived in Brussels.
In 1882 Van Gogh had an offer for a commission of paintings of The Hague however the paintings, now considered masterpieces, were not acceptable. Van Gogh started out primarily drawing and painting with watercolor. Under Mauve's tutelage Van Gogh began painting with oils in 1882. A subject that fascinated Van Gogh was the working class or peasant
, inspired by the works of Jean-François Millet
and others.
in The Hague
. After his training, in June 1873, Goupil transferred him to London
, where he lodged at 87 Hackford Road
, Brixton, and worked at Messrs. Goupil & Co., 17 Southampton Street. This was a happy time for him; he was successful at work and was, at 20, earning more than his father. He fell in love with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, who rejected him. He was increasingly isolated and fervent about religion. His father and uncle sent him to Paris to work in a dealership. However, he became resentful at how art was treated as a commodity
, a fact apparent to customers. On 1 April 1876, his employment was terminated.
Van Gogh explored his interest in ministry to serve working people. He studied for a time in Holland but his zeal and self-imposed asceticism
cost him a short-term position in lay ministry. He became somewhat embittered and rejected the church establishment, yet found a personal spirituality that was comforting and important to him. By 1879, he made a shift in the direction of his life and found he could express his "love of God and man" through painting.
In 1880 Van Gogh writes of his desire to be useful as an artist, "To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture." After having moved to Brussels
Van Gogh decided to study on his own, rather than at the art academy, often in the company of Dutch
artist Anthon van Rappard
. It is at this point his brother Theo
, working as an art dealer at the Paris
Goupil & Cie
branch, began sending him money for support, a practice that continued throughout the brother's lives.
.
In January 1882, he settled in The Hague
where he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve
(1838–88). Mauve introduced him to painting in both oil
and watercolor
and lent him money to set up a studio
; however the two soon fell out, possibly over the issue of drawing from plaster cast
s. Mauve appears to have suddenly gone cold towards Van Gogh and did not return a number of his letters, Van Gogh supposed that Mauve did not approve of his domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904) and her young daughter. He had met Sien towards the end of January, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. On 2 July, Sien gave birth to a baby boy, Willem. Van Gogh's father put considerable pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her children. Vincent was at first defiant in the face of opposition.
Van Gogh's art dealer uncle, Cornelis, commissioned
20 ink drawings of the city, which the artist completed by the end of May. That June, he spent three weeks in a hospital suffering from gonorrhea
. That summer he began to paint in oil. In autumn 1883, after a year together, he left Sien and the two children. Van Gogh moved to the Dutch
province of Drenthe
, in the northern Netherlands. That December, driven by loneliness, he went to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen
, North Brabant.
while at school; few of these works survive and authorship is challenged on some of those that do. When he committed to art as an adult, he began at an elementary level by copying the Cours de dessin, edited by Charles Bargue
and published by Goupil & Cie
. Within two years he had begun to seek commissioned
. In Spring 1882, his uncle, Cornelis Marinus - owner of a renowned gallery of contemporary art in Amsterdam - asked him for drawings of the Hague. Van Gogh's work did not prove equal to his uncle's expectations. Marinus offered a second commission, this time specifying the subject matter in detail, but was once again disappointed with the result. Nevertheless, Van Gogh persevered. He improved the lighting of his studio by installing variable shutters and experimented with a variety of drawing materials. For more than a year he worked on single figures —highly elaborated studies in "Black and White", which at the time gained him only criticism. Today, they are recognized as his first masterpieces.
, Jules Breton, and others. He described the works of Millet and Breton of religious significance, "something on high," and described them as the "voices of the wheat."
Throughout Van Gogh's adulthood he had an interest in serving others, especially manual workers. As a young man he served and ministered to coal miners in Borinage
, Belgium
which seemed to bring him close to his calling of being a missionary or minister to workers.
A common denominator in his favored authors and artists was sentimental treatment of the destitute and downtrodden. Referring to painting of peasants Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo
: "How shall I ever manage to paint what I love so much?" He held laborers up to a high standard of how dedicatedly he should approach painting, "One must undertake with confidence, with a certain assurance that one is doing a reasonable thing, like the farmer who drives his plow... (one who) drags the harrow
behind himself. If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse."
In 1885 Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art. See also Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)
.
in the open air) at a beach resort, Scheveningen, near The Hague
to paint View of the Sea at Scheveningen (F4). While Impressionists
are often given credit for painting outdoors, they were not the first to do so. Most, however, made sketches on the spot and worked on the painting in a studio. In this case, Van Gogh struggled with the strong wind which sent grains of sand into his thickly applied paint. Although most of the sand was scraped off, there are still a few grains of sand enmeshed in the layers of paint. The tumultuous weather is well depicted with white-capped seas, threatening sky and wind-blown flags. This painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum
on December 7, 2002 and, at the time of this article, is no longer on display.
Of a study that Van Gogh made for Girl in a Wood or Girl in White in the Woods, (F8) he remarked at how much he enjoyed the work and explains how he wishes to trigger the audience's senses and how they may experience the painting: "The other study in the wood is of some large green beech trunks on a stretch of ground covered with dry sticks, and the little figure of a girl in white. There was the great difficulty of keeping it clear, and of getting space between the trunks standing at different distances - and the place and relative bulk of those trunks change with the perspective - to make it so that one can breathe and walk around in it, and to make you smell the fragrance of the wood."
In The Girl in the Woods (F8a) the girl is overshadowed by the immense oak trees. The painting may be reminiscent for Van Gogh of the times in his youth he fled to the Zundert
Woods to escape from his family.
In November 1882 Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class, Worn Out was one of the series. The works were drawn in a black in an angular style. On November 24, 1882 Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo
of Adrianus Zuyderland, the man who posed for Worn Out (F997), "What a fine sight an old working man makes, in his patched bombazine suit with his bald head". Zuyderland was resident of the Dutch Protestant Almshouse for Old Men and Women. Van Gogh would offer a small payment for residents who would pose for him. On his pencil drawings, Van Gogh used milk as a fixative to counteract the graphite pencil shine and left the image "velvety black". While it was recommended to use an atomizer to control the amount of milk placed on the work, Van Gogh would pour an entire glass of milk on the work. In this drawing there is a noticeable stain around the drawing where the puddle of milk dried. Worn Out is not displayed on this page, but can be found on the Van Gogh Museum
website.
Unlike the character studies Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in November 1882 that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok (F993), a street bookseller who was sometimes called "Binnenhof's outdoor librarian". The work was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk. At this time it was rare for Van Gogh to use color, as he found it difficult to work with.
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
made when he was 27 and 28, in 1881 and 1882, his first two years of serious artistic exploration. Over the course of the two year period Van Gogh lived in several places. He left Brussels, where he had studied for about a year in 1881, to return to his parent's home in Etten
Etten (Netherlands)
Etten is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Oude IJsselstreek, 7 km southeast of Doetinchem.Etten was a separate municipality until 1818, when it was merged with Gendringen....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
where he made studies of some of the residents of the town. In January 1882 Van Gogh went to The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
where he studied with his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve
Anton Mauve
Anthonij Rudolf Mauve was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. He signed his paintings 'A. Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'. He was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh.Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in...
and set up a studio, funded by Mauve. During the ten years of Van Gogh's artistic career from 1881 to 1890 Vincent's brother Theo
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
would be a continuing source of inspiration and financial support; his first financial support began in 1880 funding Vincent while he lived in Brussels.
In 1882 Van Gogh had an offer for a commission of paintings of The Hague however the paintings, now considered masterpieces, were not acceptable. Van Gogh started out primarily drawing and painting with watercolor. Under Mauve's tutelage Van Gogh began painting with oils in 1882. A subject that fascinated Van Gogh was the working class or peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
, inspired by the works of Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France...
and others.
Early adulthood
In July 1869, Van Gogh's uncle helped him obtain a position with the art dealer Goupil & CieGoupil & Cie
Goupil & Cie was a leading art dealership in 19th century France, with headquarters in Paris. Step by step, Goupil established a worldwide trade with reproductions of paintings and sculptures, with a network of branches in London, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin and Vienna, as well as in New York and...
in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. After his training, in June 1873, Goupil transferred him to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he lodged at 87 Hackford Road
Hackford Road
Hackford Road is a road in Brixton, Lambeth, south London, England. It runs north-south and is located between Clapham Road to the west and Brixton Road to the east. To the north is the Oval tube station....
, Brixton, and worked at Messrs. Goupil & Co., 17 Southampton Street. This was a happy time for him; he was successful at work and was, at 20, earning more than his father. He fell in love with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, who rejected him. He was increasingly isolated and fervent about religion. His father and uncle sent him to Paris to work in a dealership. However, he became resentful at how art was treated as a commodity
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
, a fact apparent to customers. On 1 April 1876, his employment was terminated.
Van Gogh explored his interest in ministry to serve working people. He studied for a time in Holland but his zeal and self-imposed asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
cost him a short-term position in lay ministry. He became somewhat embittered and rejected the church establishment, yet found a personal spirituality that was comforting and important to him. By 1879, he made a shift in the direction of his life and found he could express his "love of God and man" through painting.
In 1880 Van Gogh writes of his desire to be useful as an artist, "To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture." After having moved to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Van Gogh decided to study on his own, rather than at the art academy, often in the company of Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
artist Anthon van Rappard
Anthon van Rappard
Anthon Gerard Alexander van Rappard was a Dutch painter and draughtsman. He was a pupil of Lawrence Alma-Tadema and for about four years a friend and mentor of Vincent van Gogh, who appreciated him, amongst other reasons, for his social engagement.-Biography:According to the RKD he worked in...
. It is at this point his brother Theo
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
, working as an art dealer at the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Goupil & Cie
Goupil & Cie
Goupil & Cie was a leading art dealership in 19th century France, with headquarters in Paris. Step by step, Goupil established a worldwide trade with reproductions of paintings and sculptures, with a network of branches in London, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin and Vienna, as well as in New York and...
branch, began sending him money for support, a practice that continued throughout the brother's lives.
Etten, Drenthe and The Hague
In April 1881, Van Gogh moved to the Etten countryside with his parents where he continued drawing, often using neighbors as subjects. Through the summer he spent much time walking and talking with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker. She was the daughter of his mother's older sister and Johannes Stricker, who had shown warmth towards the artist. Although Van Gogh would have liked to marry Stricker, given her decisive refusal: "No, never, never" (niet, nooit, nimmer) and his inability to support himself financially, marriage was out of the question. Van Gogh was hurt deeply. That Christmas he quarreled violently with his father, to the point of refusing a gift of money, and left for The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
where he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve
Anton Mauve
Anthonij Rudolf Mauve was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. He signed his paintings 'A. Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'. He was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh.Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in...
(1838–88). Mauve introduced him to painting in both oil
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
and watercolor
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
and lent him money to set up a studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
; however the two soon fell out, possibly over the issue of drawing from plaster cast
Plaster cast
A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – particularly in palaeontology .Sometimes a...
s. Mauve appears to have suddenly gone cold towards Van Gogh and did not return a number of his letters, Van Gogh supposed that Mauve did not approve of his domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904) and her young daughter. He had met Sien towards the end of January, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. On 2 July, Sien gave birth to a baby boy, Willem. Van Gogh's father put considerable pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her children. Vincent was at first defiant in the face of opposition.
Van Gogh's art dealer uncle, Cornelis, commissioned
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
20 ink drawings of the city, which the artist completed by the end of May. That June, he spent three weeks in a hospital suffering from gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
. That summer he began to paint in oil. In autumn 1883, after a year together, he left Sien and the two children. Van Gogh moved to the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
province of Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
, in the northern Netherlands. That December, driven by loneliness, he went to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen
Nuenen
Nuenen is a town in the municipality of Nuenen, Gerwen en Nederwetten, in the Netherlands.Vincent Van Gogh resided in Nuenen from 1883-1885. During that time he painted many character studies of peasants and weavers that culminated in The Potato Eaters...
, North Brabant.
Development as an artist
Van Gogh drew and painted with watercolorsWatercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
while at school; few of these works survive and authorship is challenged on some of those that do. When he committed to art as an adult, he began at an elementary level by copying the Cours de dessin, edited by Charles Bargue
Charles Bargue
Charles Bargue was a French artist, a lithographer as well as a painter, who devised a drawing course.-Life and career:...
and published by Goupil & Cie
Goupil & Cie
Goupil & Cie was a leading art dealership in 19th century France, with headquarters in Paris. Step by step, Goupil established a worldwide trade with reproductions of paintings and sculptures, with a network of branches in London, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin and Vienna, as well as in New York and...
. Within two years he had begun to seek commissioned
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
. In Spring 1882, his uncle, Cornelis Marinus - owner of a renowned gallery of contemporary art in Amsterdam - asked him for drawings of the Hague. Van Gogh's work did not prove equal to his uncle's expectations. Marinus offered a second commission, this time specifying the subject matter in detail, but was once again disappointed with the result. Nevertheless, Van Gogh persevered. He improved the lighting of his studio by installing variable shutters and experimented with a variety of drawing materials. For more than a year he worked on single figures —highly elaborated studies in "Black and White", which at the time gained him only criticism. Today, they are recognized as his first masterpieces.
Peasant genre
The "peasant genre" related to the Realism movement that greatly influenced Van Gogh began in the 1840s with the works of Jean-François MilletJean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France...
, Jules Breton, and others. He described the works of Millet and Breton of religious significance, "something on high," and described them as the "voices of the wheat."
Throughout Van Gogh's adulthood he had an interest in serving others, especially manual workers. As a young man he served and ministered to coal miners in Borinage
Borinage
The Borinage is an area in the Walloon province of Hainaut. The provincial capital Mons is located in the east of the Borinage. In French the inhabitants are called Borains...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
which seemed to bring him close to his calling of being a missionary or minister to workers.
A common denominator in his favored authors and artists was sentimental treatment of the destitute and downtrodden. Referring to painting of peasants Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
: "How shall I ever manage to paint what I love so much?" He held laborers up to a high standard of how dedicatedly he should approach painting, "One must undertake with confidence, with a certain assurance that one is doing a reasonable thing, like the farmer who drives his plow... (one who) drags the harrow
Harrow (tool)
In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, which is used for deeper tillage. Harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by ploughing operations...
behind himself. If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse."
In 1885 Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art. See also Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)
Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)
Peasant Character Studies is a series of works that Vincent van Gogh made between 1881 and 1885.Van Gogh had a particular attachment and sympathy for the working class fueled in several ways. He was particularly fond of the peasant genre work of Jean-François Millet and others. He found the...
.
1882
On a blustery day, Van Gogh set up his easel and painted "plein-air" (EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in the open air) at a beach resort, Scheveningen, near The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
to paint View of the Sea at Scheveningen (F4). While Impressionists
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
are often given credit for painting outdoors, they were not the first to do so. Most, however, made sketches on the spot and worked on the painting in a studio. In this case, Van Gogh struggled with the strong wind which sent grains of sand into his thickly applied paint. Although most of the sand was scraped off, there are still a few grains of sand enmeshed in the layers of paint. The tumultuous weather is well depicted with white-capped seas, threatening sky and wind-blown flags. This painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.-Background:...
on December 7, 2002 and, at the time of this article, is no longer on display.
Of a study that Van Gogh made for Girl in a Wood or Girl in White in the Woods, (F8) he remarked at how much he enjoyed the work and explains how he wishes to trigger the audience's senses and how they may experience the painting: "The other study in the wood is of some large green beech trunks on a stretch of ground covered with dry sticks, and the little figure of a girl in white. There was the great difficulty of keeping it clear, and of getting space between the trunks standing at different distances - and the place and relative bulk of those trunks change with the perspective - to make it so that one can breathe and walk around in it, and to make you smell the fragrance of the wood."
In The Girl in the Woods (F8a) the girl is overshadowed by the immense oak trees. The painting may be reminiscent for Van Gogh of the times in his youth he fled to the Zundert
Zundert
Zundert is a municipality and a town in Noord Brabant, the Netherlands.Zundert lies about 10 metres above Dutch sea level , and is located 15 km south-west of the city of Breda, and 35 km north-east of Antwerp, Belgium...
Woods to escape from his family.
In November 1882 Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class, Worn Out was one of the series. The works were drawn in a black in an angular style. On November 24, 1882 Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
of Adrianus Zuyderland, the man who posed for Worn Out (F997), "What a fine sight an old working man makes, in his patched bombazine suit with his bald head". Zuyderland was resident of the Dutch Protestant Almshouse for Old Men and Women. Van Gogh would offer a small payment for residents who would pose for him. On his pencil drawings, Van Gogh used milk as a fixative to counteract the graphite pencil shine and left the image "velvety black". While it was recommended to use an atomizer to control the amount of milk placed on the work, Van Gogh would pour an entire glass of milk on the work. In this drawing there is a noticeable stain around the drawing where the puddle of milk dried. Worn Out is not displayed on this page, but can be found on the Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.-Background:...
website.
Unlike the character studies Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in November 1882 that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok (F993), a street bookseller who was sometimes called "Binnenhof's outdoor librarian". The work was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk. At this time it was rare for Van Gogh to use color, as he found it difficult to work with.
Literature
- Vincent van Gogh: Drawings, ed. Johannes van der Wolk, Ronald Pickvance & E. B. F. Pey, Arnoldo Mondadori Arte & De Luca Edizione d'Arte 1990 (editions in various languages: ISBN 88-242-0024-9 (Dutch))
- Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings, ed. Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein etc., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York & Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005 ISBN 1-58839-164-7