Giant Peacock Moth
Currently on view
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, May-June 1889
oil on canvas, 33.5 cm x 24.5 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
In May 1889 Vincent wrote to his brother Theo, 'Yesterday I drew a very large, rather rare night moth there which is called the death’s head, its coloration astonishingly distinguished: black, grey, white, shaded, and with glints of carmine or vaguely tending towards olive green; it’s very big. To paint it I would have had to kill it, and that would have been a shame since the animal was so beautiful.'
Later he decided to paint the moth after all, using his drawing as a model. Van Gogh called it a 'death's-head moth' and depicted a kind of skull on the back of its body. It was actually a giant peacock moth, however – a species that has only stripes there.
- F-number
- F0610
- JH-number
- JH1702
- Object number
- s0189V1962
- Dimensions
- 33.5 cm x 24.5 cm, 52 cm x 42 cm
- Provenance
- With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after June 1889; 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)
Kunstforum Wien, Faszination Japan. Monet-Van Gogh-Klimt, 10 October 2018 - 20 January 2019
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh & Japan, 24 March 2018 - 24 June 2018
Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), Van Gogh & Japan, 20 January 2018 - 4 March 2018
Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Van Gogh & Japan, 24 October 2017 - 8 January 2018
Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Van Gogh & Japan, 26 August 2017 - 15 October 2017
Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Van Gogh and Nature, 14 June 2015 - 13 September 2015
Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam, Vincent. Het Van Gogh Museum in de Hermitage Amsterdam, 29 September 2012 - 25 April 2013
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Van Gogh: up close, 25 May 2012 - 3 September 2012
Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Van Gogh: up close, 26 January 2012 - 6 May 2012
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Tierschau. Wie unser Bild vom Tier entstand, 16 March 2007 - 5 August 2007
Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Carnegie Museum of Art, Fierce friends. Artists & animals in the Industrial Era 1750-1900, 25 March 2006 - 27 August 2006, no. zonder nr.
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Beestachtig mooi. Kijken naar dieren 1750-1900, 5 October 2005 - 5 February 2006, no. zonder nr.
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh koopt bij Bing / Van Gogh buys at Bing's, 26 November 2004 - 27 February 2005
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Gogh Modern. Vincent van Gogh and contemporary art, 27 June 2003 - 12 October 2003, no. zonder nr.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Van de schoonheid en de troost, 13 May 2000 - 16 July 2000
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Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Japan : Van Gogh's Utopia, 7 June 1991 - 22 September 1991
Ōsaka, National Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh from Dutch collections. Religion, humanity, nature, 21 February 1986 - 31 March 1986
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Vincent van Gogh and the birth of cloisonism, 9 April 1981 - 14 June 1981
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M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 6 October 1958 - 30 November 1958, no. 61
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Cultureel Centrum De Beyerd, Vincent van Gogh, 2 February 1957 - 24 February 1957
Newcastle upon Tyne, Laing Art Gallery, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings & drawings, mainly from the collection of Ir. V.W. van Gogh, 11 February 1956 - 24 March 1956, no. 60
Manchester (England), Manchester City Art Gallery, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings & drawings, mainly from the collection of Ir. V.W. van Gogh, 17 December 1955 - 4 February 1956, no. 60
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Kasteel Hoensbroek, Vincent van Gogh, 23 May 1953 - 27 July 1953
Parochiehuis, Vincent van Gogh in Zundert, 30 March 1953 - 20 April 1953
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