Portrait of Eugene Boch
Encyclopedia
Portraits painted by Vincent van Gogh
throughout his career from 1881 through 1890.
while studying in The Hague
, "I want to do a drawing that not quite everybody will understand, the figure simplified to the essentials, with a deliberate disregard of those details that do not belong to the actual character and are merely accidental." As an example, he discussed having their parents pose for a painting, but that, in capturing the character of a "poor village clergyman" or "a couple who have grown old together in love and fidelity", they may not not appreciate the work, because in doing so the painting would not be an exact likeness. Even so, he considered it a "serious matter" to focus on their character, one where his approach should be trusted.
.
, Jules Breton, and others. In 1885 Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art.
Van Gogh 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."
To depicting the essence of the life of the peasant and their spirit, Van Gogh lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather or long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in schools, he noted, and became frustrated by traditionalists who focused on technique more so than the nature of the people being captured. So thoroughly engaged in living the peasant lifestyle, his appearance and manner of speech began to separate himself from others, but this was a cost he believed he needed to bear for his artistic development.
, a prostitute who he met and took in when he lived at The Hague
. Included in the series are works of Sien's daughter, Maria, her newborn son and her mother.
and Corot
and others, the Naples-born Agostina saved the money she earned working as a model and opened the Italian themed Café du Tambourin in 1885, which particularly catered to artists.
The Italian Woman also called Le Italienne is "without doubt" Agostina Segatori, per the Musée d'Orsay
. Van Gogh introduced elements of Japanese woodcut prints in this portrait. Agostina is portrayed without shadows. Surrounding her image is an asymmetrical border with a monochromatic background. He also brings, though, his own style and energy to the work as compared to the clean lines of the Asian prints. Complementary, contrasting colors of Neo-impressionism are used to bring intensity to the work: green against red and blue standing next to orange so that the paired colors are more vivid than they would be on their own. Van Gogh creates his own style of brushstroke from Impressionism and Pointillism, in this case a "criss-cross of overlapping nervous hatching. He uses red and green in her face which he later described as a technique "to be able to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green".
, displayed some of Van Gogh's paintings. Mother by a Cradle, Portrait of Leonie Rose Davy-Charbuy was made of Martin's niece who lived with her uncle. Reflective of the family's interest in art, paintings hang in the background. In the year the painting was made Theo commented that Van Gogh done a good job painting portraits but had never asked for payment.
Portrait of Père Tanguy
, painted by Vincent van Gogh
in 1887, is one of three paintings of Julien Tanguy. The three works demonstrate a progression in Van Gogh's artistic style since arriving in Paris
. The first painting is somber and the composition is simple. In the second painting Van Gogh introduces his Japanese prints
. The last and most advanced in style, skill and color reflects integration of Japanese
, Impressionist
, and other influences of the Parisian artist community. The painting conveys a sense of serenity that Van Gogh seeks for himself. This last painting of Tanguy is in the Musée Rodin
, Paris.
Van Gogh went to Arles for the sun, color and country lifestyle but more than anything else "what I really hope to do is paint a good portrait."
.
in 1888 while living in Arles
, which Van Gogh dubbed "the Japan
of the south". Retreating from the city, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art. Inspired by Pierre Loti
's novel Madame Chrysanthème and Japanese artwork, Vincent painted La Mousmé, a well-dressed Japanese girl. The audience is drawn in by his use of contracting patterns and colors that bring in an energy and intensity to the work.
in June 1888 in Arles. Van Gogh described him as a boy, with a small face, large neck and intense eyes. A half-length portrait was made of the tanned man with bright colors he called a "savage combination of incongruous tones". The Zuoave's uniform was blue with red-orange braids, a red cap and two yellow stars on his chest, all placed against the background of a green door and orange bricks. Unsatisfied with the painting, he called it "ugly and unsuccessful", but thought the challenge might expand his artistic skill. Van Gogh also made a drawing, of which he was not particularly pleased, and a painting of the Zouave against a white wall.
Regiment which had quarters at the Caserne Calvin located on Boulevard des Lices in Arles. Vincent van Gogh gave him drawings lessons, and in revanche Milliet took a roll of paintings by Van Gogh to Paris, when in mid August he was passing the French capital on his way to the North, where Milliet spent his holidays. On his return to Arles, end September 1888, Milliet handed over a batch of Ukiyo-e
woodcuts and other prints selected by Vincent's brother Theo from their collection, - and in the days to follow Vincent executed this portrait of Milliet.
In the first version of Van Gogh's Bedroom
, executed in October 1888, Milliet's portrait is shown hanging to the right of the portrait of Eugène Boch
Decades later, when Milliet had retired to the 7th arrondissement in Paris, his memories of Van Gogh were recorded by Pierre Weiller, at this time living on lease in a building owned by Milliet, and published in 1955, after Milliet's death.
, Switzerland
(F535). See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
.
There's a problem with timing here. Van Gogh was not in Saint-Paul's until 1889. Maybe the patient that Van Gogh referred to in the letter to his mother was about Portrait of a Patient.
(1855 – 1941) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, Hainaut, who was the younger brother of Anna Boch
, a founding member of Les XX
. Born into a wealthy dynasty of manufacturers of fine china and ceramics, still active today under the firm of Villeroy & Boch
, Eugène Boch enrolled in the private atelier of Léon Bonnat
in Paris, in 1879. Since 1882, when Bonnat closed his atelier, he studied at the atelier of Fernand Cormon
. Paintings of him where admitted to the Salon in 1882, 1883 and 1885. In June 1888, he was introduced by Dodge MacKnight
to Vincent van Gogh
.
The portrait was executed in the first days of September 1888, a few days before Boch's departure. In the first version of Van Gogh's Bedroom
, executed in October 1888, this portrait is shown hanging to the left of the portrait of Paul-Eugène Milliet. Arranged this way, both portraits may have formed part of the Décoration for the Yellow House
.
When Eugène Boch died in 1941, he bequested The Poet
(that is Van Gogh's title for his portrait of Eugène Boch, which Boch received from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger as a present in July 1891) to the Louvre.
Van Gogh made the painting, Memory of the Garden at Etten, to depict an older woman who he envisioned as his mother and a younger woman in a plaid shawl to represent his sister Wil and the lovely gardens of the Netherlands
. In a letter to his sister Wil
Van Gogh said he had "an impression of you like those in Dicken's
novels."
While Van Gogh was living in Arles, Joseph Roulin was working at the railway station, both places close to their lodgings: Roulin and his family in a dead-end street, and Van Gogh just around the corner, at 2 Place Lamartine - and both frequented the Café run by the Ginoux couple, some footsteps further; there Van Gogh had lodged, before he moved to the Yellow House. Roulin was married to Augustine. They had three children: Armand, Camille and Marcelle. Van Gogh painted each of Roulin's family members several times between 1888-1889.
Van Gogh labeled the group of work La Berceuse meaning "our lullaby or the woman rocking the cradle."
in southern France, on 10 July 1877, and died on 4 June 1922. When his portrait was painted, Camille was eleven years of age. The Van Gogh Museum painting shows Camille's head and shoulders. Yellow brush strokes behind him are evocative of the sun.
Patience Escalier was a gardener and a shephard by trade, and his portrait the result of Van Gogh's desire to paint an older peasant who resembled his father in features.
There are two versions of this portrait. One held by the Norton Simon Museum
in Pasadena, California, and the other in the private collection of Philip Niarchos.
Portrait of Dr. Gachet is one of the most revered paintings by Dutch
artist Vincent van Gogh
of Dr. Paul Gachet
, who took care of him in his last months. In 1990, it fetched a record price of $82.5 million ($75 million, plus a 10 percent buyer's commission).
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux was painted by Dutch
post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh
in 1890.
The twelve-year-old Adeline Ravoux was the daughter of Arthur-Gustave Ravoux, whose inn is where Van Gogh lodged in Auvers-sur-Oise
. She later wrote a memoir of Van Gogh's stay with them. She witnessed Van Gogh's return to the inn after the fatal incident where he shot himself: "Vincent walked bent, holding his stomach, again exaggerating his habit of holding one shoulder higher than the other. Mother asked him: " M. Vincent, we were anxious, we are happy to see you to return; have you had a problem?" He replied in a suffering voice: "No, but I have…" he did not finish, crossed the hall, took the staircase and climbed to his bedroom. I was witness to this scene. Vincent made on us such a strange impression that Father got up and went to the staircase to see if he could hear anything." See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
.
.
.
.
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...
throughout his career from 1881 through 1890.
Portraits of Vincent van Gogh by other artists
Emile Bernard described Van Gogh as having "a sharp glace and a mouth incisively set as if to speak." Aside from consistent intensity to portraits of Van Gogh, his actual appearance seems allusive. For instance, John Russell's painting of Van Gogh looking over his shoulder seems strikingly different than the Toulouse-Lautrec's painting of Van Gogh leaning over a café table.The Netherlands & Brussels 1881-1886
Van Gogh was fascinated with making portraits early in his artistic career. He wrote to his brother, TheoTheo 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...
while studying 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...
, "I want to do a drawing that not quite everybody will understand, the figure simplified to the essentials, with a deliberate disregard of those details that do not belong to the actual character and are merely accidental." As an example, he discussed having their parents pose for a painting, but that, in capturing the character of a "poor village clergyman" or "a couple who have grown old together in love and fidelity", they may not not appreciate the work, because in doing so the painting would not be an exact likeness. Even so, he considered it a "serious matter" to focus on their character, one where his approach should be trusted.
Joseph Blok
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. See also early works of Vincent van GoghEarly works of Vincent van Gogh
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...
.
Peasant character studies
In November 1882 Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class. The "peasant genre" 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. In 1885 Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art.
Van Gogh 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."
To depicting the essence of the life of the peasant and their spirit, Van Gogh lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather or long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in schools, he noted, and became frustrated by traditionalists who focused on technique more so than the nature of the people being captured. So thoroughly engaged in living the peasant lifestyle, his appearance and manner of speech began to separate himself from others, but this was a cost he believed he needed to bear for his artistic development.
Portrait of an Old Man with Beard
Van Gogh described his sitter for this painting a "wonderful old man." It was made in Antwerp where Van Gogh hoped to bring in money to support himself by painting portraits.Sien
Van Gogh made a series of paintings of Sien HoornikSien (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh drew and painted a series of works of his mistress Sien during their time together in the Netherlands. Commonly called Sien Hoornik, Clasina Maria Hoornik lived with Vincent van Gogh during much of his time in The Hague from 1881 to 1883. Van Gogh used Sien, a pregnant prostitute,...
, a prostitute who he met and took in when he lived at 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...
. Included in the series are works of Sien's daughter, Maria, her newborn son and her mother.
Agostina Segatori
Van Gogh occasionally visited Café du Tambourin run by Agostina Segatori, the subject of this painting. Previously an artist's model to ManetÉdouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
and Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was a French landscape painter and printmaker in etching. Corot was the leading painter of the Barbizon school of France in the mid-nineteenth century...
and others, the Naples-born Agostina saved the money she earned working as a model and opened the Italian themed Café du Tambourin in 1885, which particularly catered to artists.
The Italian Woman also called Le Italienne is "without doubt" Agostina Segatori, per the Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...
. Van Gogh introduced elements of Japanese woodcut prints in this portrait. Agostina is portrayed without shadows. Surrounding her image is an asymmetrical border with a monochromatic background. He also brings, though, his own style and energy to the work as compared to the clean lines of the Asian prints. Complementary, contrasting colors of Neo-impressionism are used to bring intensity to the work: green against red and blue standing next to orange so that the paired colors are more vivid than they would be on their own. Van Gogh creates his own style of brushstroke from Impressionism and Pointillism, in this case a "criss-cross of overlapping nervous hatching. He uses red and green in her face which he later described as a technique "to be able to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green".
Etienne-Lucien Martin
The Portrait of Etienne-Lucien Martin was made of the owner of a restaurant in Paris. He allowed artists to exhibit their work. In November 1887 Van Gogh and his friends showed their works; Van Gogh did not sell a painting. Van Gogh made the painting of Martin with care and precision. The colors within the portrait itself and the background were subdued, painted with delicate brushstrokes. The gentleman's face, though, has striped of colors across the cheeks.Leonie Rose Davy-Charbuy
Art dealer Pierre Firmin-Martin, a friend of Van Gogh's brother TheoTheo 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...
, displayed some of Van Gogh's paintings. Mother by a Cradle, Portrait of Leonie Rose Davy-Charbuy was made of Martin's niece who lived with her uncle. Reflective of the family's interest in art, paintings hang in the background. In the year the painting was made Theo commented that Van Gogh done a good job painting portraits but had never asked for payment.
Père Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1887, is one of his three paintings of Julien Tanguy. The three works demonstrate a progression in Van Gogh's artistic style after his arrival in Paris. The first is somber, and formed from a simple composition. The second introduces Van...
, painted by Vincent van Gogh
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...
in 1887, is one of three paintings of Julien Tanguy. The three works demonstrate a progression in Van Gogh's artistic style since arriving in 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...
. The first painting is somber and the composition is simple. In the second painting Van Gogh introduces his Japanese prints
Woodblock printing in Japan
Woodblock printing in Japan is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printing books in the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only...
. The last and most advanced in style, skill and color reflects integration of Japanese
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
, Impressionist
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...
, and other influences of the Parisian artist community. The painting conveys a sense of serenity that Van Gogh seeks for himself. This last painting of Tanguy is in the Musée Rodin
Musée Rodin
The Musée Rodin in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919 in the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds. It displays works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin....
, Paris.
Arles 1888-1889
Doctor Rey
According to Doiteau & Leroy, one day Van Gogh wanted to present a painting he had just finished to Dr. Rey. But he refused and offered the painting to the pharmacist of the hospital just passing by, a Mr Rousseau. He, too, refused and so the next passer-by, the administrator of the hospital, was offered the painting - and he, a certain Mr Neuvière, is said to have accepted. See also Hospital in Arles (Van Gogh series)Hospital in Arles (Van Gogh series)
Hospital at Arles is the subject of two paintings that Vincent van Gogh made of the hospital in which he stayed in December 1888 and again in January 1889. The hospital is located in Arles in southern France...
.
The Ginoux Family
Marie Ginoux, born Jullian (or Julien) in Arles (June 8, 1848 - August 2, 1911), and her husband Joseph (1835-1906) married February 2, 1866, and ran the Café de la Gare, at 30 Place Lamartine.La Mousmé
La Mousmé was painted by Vincent van GoghVincent 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...
in 1888 while living in Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
, which Van Gogh dubbed "the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
of the south". Retreating from the city, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art. Inspired by Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
's novel Madame Chrysanthème and Japanese artwork, Vincent painted La Mousmé, a well-dressed Japanese girl. The audience is drawn in by his use of contracting patterns and colors that bring in an energy and intensity to the work.
The Zouave
Van Gogh, excited to have a model for a portrait, worked on the portraits of a ZouaveZouave
Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War...
in June 1888 in Arles. Van Gogh described him as a boy, with a small face, large neck and intense eyes. A half-length portrait was made of the tanned man with bright colors he called a "savage combination of incongruous tones". The Zuoave's uniform was blue with red-orange braids, a red cap and two yellow stars on his chest, all placed against the background of a green door and orange bricks. Unsatisfied with the painting, he called it "ugly and unsuccessful", but thought the challenge might expand his artistic skill. Van Gogh also made a drawing, of which he was not particularly pleased, and a painting of the Zouave against a white wall.
The Lover: Paul-Eugène Milliet
Paul-Eugène Milliet was a 2nd Lieutenant at the 3rd ZouaveZouave
Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War...
Regiment which had quarters at the Caserne Calvin located on Boulevard des Lices in Arles. Vincent van Gogh gave him drawings lessons, and in revanche Milliet took a roll of paintings by Van Gogh to Paris, when in mid August he was passing the French capital on his way to the North, where Milliet spent his holidays. On his return to Arles, end September 1888, Milliet handed over a batch of Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...
woodcuts and other prints selected by Vincent's brother Theo from their collection, - and in the days to follow Vincent executed this portrait of Milliet.
In the first version of Van Gogh's Bedroom
Bedroom in Arles
Bedroom in Arles is the title given to each of three similar paintings by 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.Van Gogh's own title for this composition was simply The Bedroom...
, executed in October 1888, Milliet's portrait is shown hanging to the right of the portrait of Eugène Boch
Portrait of Eugene Boch
Portraits painted by Vincent van Gogh throughout his career from 1881 through 1890.-Portraits of Vincent van Gogh by other artists:Emile Bernard described Van Gogh as having "a sharp glace and a mouth incisively set as if to speak." Aside from consistent intensity to portraits of Van Gogh, his...
Decades later, when Milliet had retired to the 7th arrondissement in Paris, his memories of Van Gogh were recorded by Pierre Weiller, at this time living on lease in a building owned by Milliet, and published in 1955, after Milliet's death.
The Mudlark
Girl with Ruffled Hair (The Mudlark) was painted by Van Gogh when he lived in Arles. The work resides at Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-FondsLa Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(F535). See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
.
Old Woman of Arles
Van Gogh's Old woman of Arles was made soon after he arrived in Arles. He wrote to his brother Theo, "I believe that there are real opportunities for portraiture here. While people here are enormously ignorant of painting in general, when it comes to their own appearance and their own lives, they are much more artistic than in the North."One-eyed Man
The One-eyed Man is a portrait of a patient at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy. Van Gogh used sweeping brushstrokes in the painting made with green in the background, the man's coat and touches in his face. In the hospital Van Gogh found that in the presence of other patients he became more calm about his mental state. In a letter to his mother he wrote, "At the moment I am working on a portrait of one of the patients here. It is odd that if one is with them for a time, and has grown used to them, one no longer thinks them mad."There's a problem with timing here. Van Gogh was not in Saint-Paul's until 1889. Maybe the patient that Van Gogh referred to in the letter to his mother was about Portrait of a Patient.
The Poet: Eugène Boch
Eugène BochEugène Boch
Eugène Boch was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Waast, Nord, Hainaut, and the younger brother of Anna Boch, a founding member of Les XX....
(1855 – 1941) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, Hainaut, who was the younger brother of Anna Boch
Anna Boch
Anna Rosalie Boch was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, Hainaut. Anna Boch died in Ixelles in 1936 and is interred there in the Ixelles Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium.-Artistic style:...
, a founding member of Les XX
Les XX
Les XX was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years 'Les Vingt' , as they called themselves, held an annual exhibition of their art; each year twenty international artists were also...
. Born into a wealthy dynasty of manufacturers of fine china and ceramics, still active today under the firm of Villeroy & Boch
Villeroy & Boch
Villeroy & Boch is a large manufacturer of ceramics with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Germany.-Company history:The company began in the tiny French village of Audun le Tiche, where François Boch set up a pottery company with his three sons in 1748. Later, the company moved to...
, Eugène Boch enrolled in the private atelier of Léon Bonnat
Léon Bonnat
Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat was a French painter.He was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Madrid, where his father owned a bookshop. While tending his father's shop, he copied engravings of works by the Old Masters, developing a passion for drawing...
in Paris, in 1879. Since 1882, when Bonnat closed his atelier, he studied at the atelier of Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France....
. Paintings of him where admitted to the Salon in 1882, 1883 and 1885. In June 1888, he was introduced by Dodge MacKnight
Dodge MacKnight
Dodge Macknight was an American painter. He was a friend of Vincent van Gogh, and introduced Van Gogh to the Belgian painter Eugène Boch. Macknight lived in Fontvieille at the time that Van Gogh was living in Arles.-Footnotes:...
to Vincent van Gogh
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...
.
The portrait was executed in the first days of September 1888, a few days before Boch's departure. In the first version of Van Gogh's Bedroom
Bedroom in Arles
Bedroom in Arles is the title given to each of three similar paintings by 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.Van Gogh's own title for this composition was simply The Bedroom...
, executed in October 1888, this portrait is shown hanging to the left of the portrait of Paul-Eugène Milliet. Arranged this way, both portraits may have formed part of the Décoration for the Yellow House
The Décoration for the Yellow House
The Décoration for the Yellow House was the main project Vincent van Gogh focused on in Arles, from August 1888 until his breakdown the day before Christmas. This Décoration had no pre-defined form or size; the central idea of the Décoration grew step by step, with the progress of his work....
.
When Eugène Boch died in 1941, he bequested The Poet
Portrait of Eugene Boch
Portraits painted by Vincent van Gogh throughout his career from 1881 through 1890.-Portraits of Vincent van Gogh by other artists:Emile Bernard described Van Gogh as having "a sharp glace and a mouth incisively set as if to speak." Aside from consistent intensity to portraits of Van Gogh, his...
(that is Van Gogh's title for his portrait of Eugène Boch, which Boch received from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger as a present in July 1891) to the Louvre.
Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Portrait of Artist's Mother is a painting Vincent van Gogh made in 1888 of his mother, Anna Carbentus van Gogh from a black-and-white photograph. In September 1888 Van Gogh - answering to a letter of his sister Wil who had told him of a recent photograph of their mother - asked for a print. About a week later he received it, but - "troubled by the black" - sat down to paint a copy based on this likeness: Van Gogh's initial introduction to art was through his mother, an amateur artist. After years of strained relationship with family members, Van Gogh excitedly shared some of his works his mother would cherish most, those of flowers and natural settings. In this painting of his mother, Van Gogh captures her dignified, proud nature.Van Gogh made the painting, Memory of the Garden at Etten, to depict an older woman who he envisioned as his mother and a younger woman in a plaid shawl to represent his sister Wil and the lovely gardens of the 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...
. In a letter to his sister Wil
Wil van Gogh
Willemina Jacoba van Gogh , called Wil, was the youngest sister of the artist Vincent van Gogh and the art dealer Theo van Gogh. She was amongst the earliest feminists....
Van Gogh said he had "an impression of you like those in Dicken's
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novels."
The Roulin Family
The Roulin Family is group of portrait paintings that Vincent van Gogh executed in Arles in 1888 and 1889 of Joseph, his wife Augustine and their three children: Armand, Camille and Marcelle. This series is unique in many ways. Although Van Gogh loved to paint portraits, it was difficult for financial and other reasons for him to find models. So, finding an entire family that agreed to sit for paintings, in fact for several sittings each was a bounty. Joseph Roulin became a particularly good, loyal and supporting friend to Van Gogh during his stay in Arles. To represent a man he truly admired was important to him. The family, with children ranging in age from four months to seventeen years, also gave him the opportunity to produces works of individuals in several different stages of life. Rather than making photographic-like works, Van Gogh used his imagination, colors and themes artistically and creatively to evoke desired emotions from the audience.Le Facteur: Joseph Roulin
Augustine
Augustine Roulin was born on 9 October 1851 in Lambesc and died on 5 April 1930. After her husband had posed for several works with van Gogh, Augustine sat for Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin in the Yellow House the two men shared. During the sitting, she kept her gaze on Gauguin, possibly for reassurance because, according to her daughter, she was not comfortable in the presence of van Gogh.La Berceuse (Augustine)
In addition to the mother-daughter works where Marcelle is visible, Van Gogh also created several La Berceuse works where Augustine rocked her unseen cradle by a string.Van Gogh labeled the group of work La Berceuse meaning "our lullaby or the woman rocking the cradle."
Armand
Armand Roulin, the eldest son, was born on 5 May 1871 in Lambesc, and died on 14 November 1945. He was 17 years of age when portrayed by Van Gogh.Camille
Camille Roulin, the middle child, was born in LambescLambesc
Lambesc is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region in southern France.Lambesc is located in the heart of Provence at the foot of the Côtes mountain range, near the Alpilles. The village has a strong historical and cultural heritage, being home to the...
in southern France, on 10 July 1877, and died on 4 June 1922. When his portrait was painted, Camille was eleven years of age. The Van Gogh Museum painting shows Camille's head and shoulders. Yellow brush strokes behind him are evocative of the sun.
Marcelle
Marcelle Roulin, the youngest child, was born on 31 July 1888, and four months old, when Van Gogh made her portraits. She was painted three times by herself and twice on her mother’s lap.Vieux Paysan: Patience Escalier
There are two versions of this portrait. One held by the Norton Simon Museum
Norton Simon Museum
The Norton Simon Museum is an Art Museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known by the names: the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum.-Overview:...
in Pasadena, California, and the other in the private collection of Philip Niarchos.
Saint-Rémy-en-Provence 1889
The Trabuc Family
François Trabuc, who was the chief orderly at Saint-Paul, and his wife, Jeanne both sat for van Gogh. François Trabuc had a look of "contemplative calm" which van Gogh found interesting in spite of the misery he had witness at Saint-Paul and a Marseille hospital during outbreaks of cholera. He wrote to Theo of Trabuc’s character, a military presence and "small keen black eyes". If it were not for his intelligence and kindness, his eyes could seem like that of a bird of prey.Portrait of a patient
While in Saint-Paul, Van Gogh wrote of other patients and their support for one another, "Though here there are some patients very seriously ill, the fear and horror of madness that I used to have has already lessened a great deal. And though here you continually hear terrible cries and howls like beasts in a menagerie, in spite of that people get to know each other very well and help each other when their attacks come on."The Gachet Family
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...
artist Vincent van Gogh
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...
of Dr. Paul Gachet
Paul Gachet
Paul-Ferdinand Gachet was a French physician most famous for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh during his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet was a great supporter of artists and the Impressionist movement...
, who took care of him in his last months. In 1990, it fetched a record price of $82.5 million ($75 million, plus a 10 percent buyer's commission).
Adeline Ravoux
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...
post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh
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...
in 1890.
The twelve-year-old Adeline Ravoux was the daughter of Arthur-Gustave Ravoux, whose inn is where Van Gogh lodged in Auvers-sur-Oise
Auvers-sur-Oise
Auvers-sur-Oise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is associated with several famous artists, the most prominent being Vincent van Gogh.-History:...
. She later wrote a memoir of Van Gogh's stay with them. She witnessed Van Gogh's return to the inn after the fatal incident where he shot himself: "Vincent walked bent, holding his stomach, again exaggerating his habit of holding one shoulder higher than the other. Mother asked him: " M. Vincent, we were anxious, we are happy to see you to return; have you had a problem?" He replied in a suffering voice: "No, but I have…" he did not finish, crossed the hall, took the staircase and climbed to his bedroom. I was witness to this scene. Vincent made on us such a strange impression that Father got up and went to the staircase to see if he could hear anything." See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
.
Girl in White
Girl in White also known as Young Girl Standing Against a Background of Wheat and Woman in a Cornfield was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France during the last months of his life. Girl in White has been part of the Chester Dale Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. since 1963.Little Arlesienne
The Little Arlesienne (Head of a Girl) is found at the Kröller-Müller Museum. See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
.
Young Peasant Woman with Straw Hat
Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat is an 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh went on to paint several versions of this painting. The painting has changed hands several times. In 1997, Stephen Wynn paid $47.5 million for the painting. On October 7, 2005, it was announced that Stephen Wynn had sold the painting along with Gauguin's Bathers to Steven A. Cohen for more than $100 million.Two Children
Two Young Girls, also called Two Children is owned by Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Another version of Two Children is part of a private collection (F784). See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
.
Young Man with Cornflower
The Young Man with Cornflower was made in June, 1890 in Auvers. See also Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
.
See also
- Self-portraits by Vincent van GoghSelf-Portraits by Vincent van GoghThe dozens of self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh were an important part of his oeuvre as a painter. Vincent van Gogh created many self-portraits during his lifetime. Most probably, Van Gogh's self portraits are depicting the face as it appeared in the mirror he used to reproduce his face, i.e...
- Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
External links
- Père Tanguy, Vincent Van Gogh, on the official website of the Musée Rodin.
- The Harvesters, Vincent Van Gogh, on the official website of the Musée Rodin.
- Eugene Boch.com - website on Van Gogh´s friend painted as the poet