Torso of Venus
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, June 1886
oil on cardboard, 46.4 cm x 38.1 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Practice makes perfect: in June 1886, van Gogh painted this study of a plaster model of a classical sculpture. It was part of a whole series of such studies. This standing torso of Venus must have been his favourite model: he made no fewer than five studies of it. Two of them are now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum.
Van Gogh painted the background deep blue. He thought there was ‘nothing so fine as [cobalt blue] for putting space around things’ – in other words, for creating an illusion of depth.
- F-number
- F0216b
- JH-number
- JH1060
- Object number
- s0089V1962
- Dimensions
- 46.4 cm x 38.1 cm, 55.1 cm x 46.8 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, mid June 1886; 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; donated by Vincent Willem van Gogh on 11 March 1952 to the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Laren; transferred on 28 December 1960 by the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation to the Theo van Gogh Foundation, Laren; agreement concluded on 21 July 1962 between the (2nd) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 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; donated on 21 July 1962 by the Theo van Gogh Foundation to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation; 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)
Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 15 July 2013 - 23 September 2013
Sendai, The Miyagi Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 26 May 2013 - 8 July 2013
Kyoto, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 30 March 2013 - 19 May 2013
Seoul, Seoul Arts Center, Van Gogh in Paris. A dialogue with modernism, 4 November 2012 - 24 March 2013
Nagasaki, Huis ten Bosch (Japan), Van Gogh in Paris: new perspectives, 29 July 2012 - 28 October 2012
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh in Antwerpen en Parijs: nieuwe inzichten, 22 June 2011 - 18 September 2011
Nijmegen, Museum het Valkhof, Mythen van het atelier, 4 February 2011 - 8 May 2011
Teylers Museum, Mythen van het atelier, 18 September 2010 - 9 January 2011
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Recklinghausen, Städtische Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Torso, das Unvollendete als künstlerische Form, 14 May 1964 - 19 July 1964, no. 110
Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 7 February 1963 - 26 March 1963, no. 15
Detroit Institute of Arts, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 11 December 1962 - 29 January 1963, no. 15
Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Carnegie Institute, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 18 October 1962 - 4 November 1962, no. 15
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 22 March 1962 - 29 April 1962, no. 15
Albright Art Gallery, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 30 January 1962 - 11 March 1962, no. 15
Cleveland Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 5 December 1961 - 14 January 1962, no. 15
Baltimore Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings, watercolors and drawings, 18 October 1961 - 26 November 1961, no. 15
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Portland (Oregon), Portland Art Museum (Oregon), Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 28 January 1959 - 1 March 1959, no. 20
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M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 6 October 1958 - 30 November 1958, no. 20
Gothenburg, Göteborgs Konsthallen, Vincent van Gogh. Akvareller, teckningar, oljestudier, brev, 15 March 1958 - 30 March 1958
Sandviken, Konsthallen, Vincent van Gogh. Akvareller, teckningar, oljestudier, brev, 27 February 1958 - 11 March 1958
Östersund, Konstmuseet, Vincent van Gogh. Akvareller, teckningar, oljestudier, brev, 8 February 1958 - 23 February 1958
Umeå, Länsmuseet, Vincent van Gogh. Akvareller, teckningar, oljestudier, brev, 18 January 1958 - 2 February 1958
Kiruna, Norrmalmsskolan, Vincent van Gogh. Akvareller, teckningar, oljestudier, brev, 29 December 1957 - 13 January 1958
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