An old woman of Arles, 1888Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
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This portrait of an old woman was one of the first paintings Van Gogh made after his arrival in Arles. It marked the beginning of an impressive series of portraits depicting the town’s inhabitants. ‘I believe that there are real opportunities for portraiture here,’ he wrote to Theo. ‘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.’
