Head of a Woman
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, March-May 1885
oil on canvas, 43.8 cm x 30 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh painted this countrywoman in Nuenen, where he had returned to live with his parents. She posed for him, as did many other villagers. He regarded the paintings he made of them not as portraits, but as ‘study heads’. He passionately wanted to become a good figure painter and he regarded this activity as an essential preparatory exercise.
He aimed to produce a total of 50 such studies, of which 47 have survived. The Van Gogh Museum has 10 of them in its collection.
- F-number
- F0069
- JH-number
- JH0724
- Object number
- s0084V1962
- Dimensions
- 43.8 cm x 30 cm, 60 cm x 46 cm, 10 cm
- Provenance
- Probably taken from Nuenen by his brother, Theo van Gogh, Paris, 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; 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)
De Aardappeleters: misser of meesterwerk?, 8 October 2021-13 February 2022
Van Gogh in de Borinage. De geboorte van een kunstenaar, 25 January-17 May 2015
Een brabantse Van Gogh ervaring, 6 June-20 October 1984, no. geen catnr. / no cat. no.
La ricerca dell'identità, 16 November 1974-15 January 1975, no. 6
Tentoonstelling van werken van Vincent van Gogh (verzameling mevr. Cohen Gosschalk), 25 March-1 April 1906
Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 26 January-28 February 1906, no. 3
Tentoonstelling van schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh, 7-16 October 1905, no. 3
Tentoonstelling van schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh, 9 September-2 October 1905, no. 3
Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 15 July-1 September 1905, no. 10
The new potato eaters : Van Gogh in Nuenen 1883-1885, Cambridge, 2015, p. 73, 123
Van Gogh in de Borinage : de geboorte van een kunstenaar, Brussel, 2015, p. 21, 97, 255
__, p. 158, 228
Fluent impasto in Van Gogh's Paris paintings (1886-1888) : a strategic effect?, p. 224, 229
Vincent van Gogh in het Noordbrabants Museum, 's Hertogenbosch, [2007], [unpaged]
Vincent van Gogh paintings : Volume I : Dutch period 1881-1885 : Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam ; Blaricum ; London, 1999, p. 84-105
Vincent van Gogh schilderijen : Nederlandse periode, 1881-1885 : Van Gogh Museum : 1, Amsterdam ; Blaricum, 1999, p. 84-105
The new complete Van Gogh : paintings, drawings, sketches, Amsterdam, 1996, p. 158-159
Van Gogh Museum : schilderijen en pastels, Zwolle, 1993, p. 64-67
The Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1987, p. 319
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh Amsterdam : guide to the collection of paintings, Amsterdam, 1979, [unpaged]
The complete works of Vincent van Gogh, Tokyo, 1978, vol. 1, pl. 49.
The works of Vincent van Gogh : his paintings and drawings, Amsterdam, 1970, p. 65, 614
The potato eaters : in the collection V.W. van Gogh, Amsterdam, London, [s.a.], p. 9, 11
De Genesis van de aardappeleters (1885) van Vincent van Gogh, p. 6
Vincent van Gogh, Paris, 1939, p. 80
De hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Antwerpen, 1937, p. 289, 292, 335, 339, 342-43, 346, 352, 367-68, 376, 414
Vincent van Gogh : Gemälde, Berlin, 1928, vol. 1, p. 29, vol. 2, pl. XVIII
