Head of a Woman
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, April 1885
oil on canvas, 43.2 cm x 30 cm x 2.2 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This woman is Gordina de Groot, who posed with her family for The Potato Eaters. To prepare for that painting, Van Gogh made over 40 studies of farmworkers' heads, including this one. He hoped this would make him a better figure painter.
Van Gogh wanted to portray peasants as people of a special kind, who had been working the land for centuries. 'They remind one of the earth, sometimes appear to have been modelled out of it,' Vincent wrote to his brother Theo.
This work was a study in colour. Van Gogh concentrated on the complementary colours red and green.
- F-number
- F0160
- JH-number
- JH0722
- Object number
- s0006V1962
- Dimensions
- 43.2 cm x 30 cm, 2.2 cm x 59 cm, 46.2 cm x 9.5 cm
- Provenance
- Probably taken from Nuenen by his brother, Theo van Gogh, Paris, at the end of March 1885; 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; given on loan by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, since 16 December 1930; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, 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)
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