Torso of Venus
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, June 1886
oil on cardboard, 35.3 cm x 27.2 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This painting is one of a series of studies of plaster models. Van Gogh owned around eleven such models of sculptures from classical antiquity or the Renaissance. Among them was this standing torso of Venus, which he painted a number of times.
Among other things, Van Gogh was experimenting with the effect of different kinds of background. Here, he has placed his brushstrokes at right-angles to each other, so that they look rather like wickerwork. He would use this technique more than once in his later work.
- F-number
- F0216j
- JH-number
- JH1059
- Object number
- s0201V1962
- Dimensions
- 35.3 cm x 27.2 cm, 44.0 cm x 36.0 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; 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)
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Van Gogh te gast in het Rijksmuseum. Meesterwerken van het Van Gogh Museum, 19 September 1998 - 2 May 1999
Paris, Institut Néerlandais, Cent dessins du Musée Kröller-Müller, 1 December 1971 - 1 January 1972, no. 15
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 14 February 1971 - 4 April 1971, no. 11
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 11 December 1970 - 31 January 1971, no. 11
Baltimore Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 11 October 1970 - 29 November 1970, no. 11
Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 28 February 1970 - 5 April 1970, no. 11
Saint Louis, City Art Museum of Saint Louis, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 20 December 1969 - 1 February 1970, no. 11
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings and drawings, 14 October 1969 - 1 December 1969, no. 11
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Vincent van Gogh. Collectie ir. V.W. van Gogh, 12 October 1948 - 10 January 1949, no. 49
Richard Kendall, 'I kept on thinking about Degas': Vincent van Gogh and the 'little lawyer', p. 33
Jan Hulsker, The complete Van Gogh : paintings, drawings, sketches, 1980, pp. 228, 231
Jan Hulsker, The new complete Van Gogh : paintings, drawings, sketches, 1996, pp. 230-231
Ella Hendriks, Louis van Tilborgh, New views on Van Gogh's development in Antwerp and Paris : an integrated art historical and technical study on his paintings in the Van Gogh Museum = Nieuwe visies op Van Goghs ontwikkeling in Antwerpen en Parijs : een geïntegreerde technische en kunsthistorische studie van zijn schilderijen in het Van Gogh Museum, 2006, pp. 41-52
Beatrice Marino, Paints quantified : image analytical studies of preparatory grounds used by Van Gogh, 2006, p. 6-7, 19, 57-58, 61, 75-76, 111, 138-140, 160-162, 191, 193, 196, 203-210, 227, 235
Sjraar van Heugten, Radiographic images of Vincent van Gogh's paintings in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum, p. 78
Ed. by E. van Uitert and M. Hoyle; with contrib. from H. van Crimpen ... [et al.], The Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, 1987, p. 325
Translation Ivonne Paternotte-Limburg, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh Amsterdam : guide to the collection of paintings, 1979, [unpaged]
Laura Ann Coyle, The Still-life paintings of Vincent van Gogh and their context, 2007, p. 277, 544
Gale B. Murray, Toulouse-Lautrec : the formative years 1878-1891, 1991, p. 45
Ella Hendriks and Muriel Geldof, Van Gogh's Antwerp and Paris picture supports (1885-1888) reconstructing choices, pp. 45, 73
Ed. by Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp ; Exh. and catalog by: Michael Philipp ; With contrib. by: Sjraar van Heugten, Valerie Hortolani, Stefan Koldehoff... [et al.], Van Gogh : still lifes, 2019, p. 17, 150, 159, 212
Door Jan Hulsker, Van Gogh en zijn weg : al zijn tekeningen en schilderijen in hun samenhang en ontwikkeling, cop. 1977, pp. 228, 231
Vorwort von J.B. de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh : Gemälde, 1928, p. 65, vol. 2, pl. LVIII [abusievelijk ill. van 216b]
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Vincent van Gogh : his Paris period 1886-1888, 1976, pp. 123, 230
Ella Hendriks, Louis van Tilborgh ; with the assistance of Margriet van Eikema Hommes, Monique Hageman ; transl. by Michael Hoyle, Vincent van Gogh paintings : volume 2 : Antwerp & Paris 1885-1888, 2011, p. 205-220
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, pp. 116, 620
