Head of a Woman
Currently on view
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, March-May 1885
oil on canvas, 43.8 cm x 30.0 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 30.0 cm, 60 cm x 46 cm
- Provenance
- Probably taken from Nuenen by his brother, Theo van Gogh, Paris, March 1885; after Theo’s 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, on 10 July 1962 to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam; agreement concluded on 21 July 1962 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; 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)
Mons, BAM - Beaux-Arts Mons, Van Gogh in de Borinage. De geboorte van een kunstenaar, 25 January 2015 - 17 May 2015
Nuenen, Gemeentehuis, Een brabantse Van Gogh ervaring, 6 June 1984 - 20 October 1984, no. zonder nr.
Palazzo Reale (Milaan), La ricerca dell'identità, 16 November 1974 - 15 January 1975, no. 6
Sociëteit Sint Joris, Tentoonstelling van werken van Vincent van Gogh (verzameling mevr. Cohen Gosschalk), 25 March 1906 - 1 April 1906
Kunstzalen Oldenzeel, Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 26 January 1906 - 28 February 1906, no. 3
Leidsche Kunstvereeniging, Tentoonstelling van schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh, 7 October 1905 - 16 October 1905, no. 3
Vereeniging Voor de Kunst, Tentoonstelling van schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh, 9 September 1905 - 2 October 1905, no. 3
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, 15 July 1905 - 1 September 1905, no. 10
The complete works of Vincent van Gogh, 1978, vol. 1, pl. 49.
Ella Hendriks, Fluent impasto in Van Gogh's Paris paintings (1886-1888) : a strategic effect?, p. 224, 229
J.G. van Gelder, De Genesis van de aardappeleters (1885) van Vincent van Gogh, p. 6
Walther Vanbeselaere ; met een woord vooraf door Aug. Vermeylen, De hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), 1937, p. 289, 292, 335, 339, 342-43, 346, 352, 367-68, 376, 414
Jan Hulsker, The new complete Van Gogh : paintings, drawings, sketches, 1996, p. 158-159
Edited by Paul Williamson ; Ton de Brouwer, Laura Prins, Stephen Hackney ... [et al.], The new potato eaters : Van Gogh in Nuenen 1883-1885, 2015, p. 73, 123
with an introduction by J.G. van Gelder, The potato eaters : in the collection V.W. van Gogh, Amsterdam, [s.a.], p. 9, 11
Ed. by E. van Uitert and M. Hoyle; with contrib. from H. van Crimpen ... [et al.], The Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, 1987, p. 319
Translation Ivonne Paternotte-Limburg, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh Amsterdam : guide to the collection of paintings, 1979, [unpaged]
Ed. by Marije Vellekoop, Ella Hendriks, Leo Jansen ... [et al.] ; Teio Meedendorp, Nienke Bakker, Maite van Dijk ... [et al.], Van Gogh's studio practice, 2013, p. 158, 228
Sjraar van Heugten ; Marije Vellekoop, Leo Jansen, Bart Moens ... [et al.], Van Gogh in de Borinage : de geboorte van een kunstenaar, 2015, p. 21, 97, 255
Ronald de Leeuw, Van Gogh Museum : schilderijen en pastels, 1993, p. 64-67
By J.B. de la Faille ; foreword by Charles Terrasse ; translated from the French by Prudence Montagu-Pollock, Vincent van Gogh, 1939, p. 80
Vorwort von J.B. de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh : Gemälde, 1928, vol. 1, p. 29, vol. 2, pl. XVIII
Vincent van Gogh in het Noordbrabants Museum, [2007], [unpaged]
Louis van Tilborgh, Marije Vellekoop, Vincent van Gogh paintings : Volume I : Dutch period 1881-1885 : Van Gogh Museum, 1999, p. 84-105
Louis van Tilborgh, Marije Vellekoop, Vincent van Gogh schilderijen : Nederlandse periode, 1881-1885 : Van Gogh Museum : 1, 1999, p. 84-105
J.B. de la Faille ; bijdragen van Abraham M. Hammacher en Jan G. van Gelder ; vert. van het artikel van A.M. Hammacher James Brockway, The works of Vincent van Gogh : his paintings and drawings, 1970, p. 65, 614
