Self-Portrait or Portrait of Theo van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, Summer 1887
oil on cardboard, 19.0 cm x 14.1 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This painting was long thought to be a self-portrait of Vincent; however, another view is that it shows his brother Theo.
The brothers, namely, bore a striking resemblance to one another. Unfortunately, there is no decisive evidence to determine who is actually portrayed, which is why the painting now has a double title.
The portrait is unusually small and painted in considerable detail. Van Gogh was probably trying to compete with portrait photos. He had written some time earlier, 'it's a cause worth fighting for to show people that there's something else in human beings besides what the photographer is able to get out of them with his machine.'
- F-number
- F0294
- JH-number
- JH1209
- Object number
- s0157V1962
- Dimensions
- 19.0 cm x 14.1 cm, 28.7 cm x 23.9 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, summer 1887; 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)
Den Bosch, Noordbrabants Museum, Van Goghs intimi. Vrienden, familie, modellen, 21 September 2019-12 January 2020
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Sendai, Miyagi Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 26 May-8 July 2013
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