Portrait of Bernard's Grandmother
Currently on view
Emile Bernard (1868 - 1941), 1887
oil on canvas, 54 cm x 65 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Bernard’s grandmother was in mourning when he painted her. She had just lost her husband. She had come to live with the artist’s family in Asnières and often posed for him. Her apparently arrogant expression is due simply to the artist’s viewpoint. Because Bernard was sitting slightly lower, she appears to be looking down on us. Her closed eye was blind.
Van Gogh swapped one of his own self-portraits for this painting. He was full of praise for it. Later, he wrote to Bernard how moving he found its air of steady self-assurance. ‘You’ve never been closer to Rembrandt, my dear chap.’
- Object number
- s0205V1962
- Dimensions
- 54 cm x 65 cm, 74 cm x 85 cm
- Provenance
- Exchanged by the artist with Vincent van Gogh, Paris, between November 1887 and 19 February 1888; left by Vincent van Gogh at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris; 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; donated by Vincent Willem van Gogh to the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 11 March 1952; transferred by the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation to the Theo van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 28 December 1960; donated by the Theo van Gogh Foundation to the (2nd) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, 21 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; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973, and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
- artist
- Emile Bernard
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Vienna, Kunstforum Wien, Faszination Japan. Monet-Van Gogh-Klimt, 10 October 2018 - 20 January 2019
Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Emile Bernard – Am Puls der Moderne, 7 February 2015 - 1 June 2015, no. 17
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Emile Bernard (1868 - 1941), la peinture en colère, 16 September 2014 - 5 January 2015, no. zonder nr.
Copenhagen, Ordrupgaard Museum, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Bernard. Dramaet i Arles, 7 February 2014 - 22 June 2014, no. 59
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh aan het werk, 1 May 2013 - 13 January 2014
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Goghs brieven. De kunstenaar aan het woord, 9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010
New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, Painted with Words: Vincent van Gogh's letters to Emile Bernard, 28 September 2007 - 6 January 2008, no. 63
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh en Rembrandt, 24 February 2006 - 28 June 2006
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, De keuze van Vincent. Van Goghs Musée imaginaire, 14 February 2003 - 15 June 2003, no. 86
Kōbe, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Vincent & Theo van Gogh, 7 September 2002 - 4 November 2002, no. 67
Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Vincent & Theo van Gogh, 5 July 2002 - 25 August 2002, no. 67
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Theo van Gogh 1857-1891. Kunsthandelaar, verzamelaar en broer van Vincent, 24 June 1999 - 5 September 1999, no. 165
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Emile Bernard, 24 August 1990 - 4 November 1990
Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Emile Bernard 1868-1941. A Pioneer of Modern Art, 12 May 1990 - 5 August 1990, no. 52
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh and the birth of cloisonism, 9 April 1981 - 14 June 1981, no. 95
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, 24 January 1981 - 22 March 1981, no. 95
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Lille), Emile Bernard 1868-1941 : peintures, dessins, gravures, 12 April 1967 - 12 June 1967, no. 6
Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Emile Bernard 1868-1941 : peintures, dessins, gravures, 5 February 1967 - 2 April 1967, no. 5
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Pont-Aven : Gauguin und sein Kreis in der Bretagne, 5 March 1966 - 11 April 1966, no. 88
London, Tate Gallery, Gauguin and the Pont-Aven group, 7 January 1966 - 13 February 1966, no. 74
Paris, Institut Néerlandais, Les amis de Van Gogh, 9 November 1960 - 17 December 1960, no. 12
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Collectie Theo van Gogh, 12 March 1960 - 29 May 1960, no. 7
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Collectie Theo van Gogh, 29 January 1960 - 29 February 1960, no. 7
Mons, Museum voor Schoone Kunsten, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Son art et ses amis, 22 March 1958 - 5 May 1958, no. 82
Antwerp, Zaal Comité voor Artistieke Werking, Vincent van Gogh, 7 May 1955 - 19 June 1955, no. 375
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The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, De verzameling van Theo van Gogh : met uitzondering van de werken van zijn broer Vincent, 11 June 1953 - 2 August 1953, no. 6
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, De verzameling van Theo van Gogh : met uitzondering van de werken van zijn broer Vincent, 31 March 1953 - 11 May 1953, no. 6
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Edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, Nienke Bakker, Vincent van Gogh - The Letters : The complete illustrated and annotated edition : Volume 4 : Arles, 1888-1889, 2009, pp. 174-175, 216, 328
Emile Bernard, Vincent van Gogh : les peintres originaux, p. 2
[Vorwort R. Wehrli ; Einführung von Denys Sutton ; Auswahl der Dokumentarischen Texte Fritz Hermann ; Katalog übersetzung und ergänzung von Felix Andreas Baumann], Pont-Aven : Gauguin und sein Kreis in der Bretagne, 1966, p. 63
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Jean-Jacques Luthi ; préface de Louis Hautecoeur, Emile Bernard : l'initiateur, 1974
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[Introd. de V.W. van Gogh], Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) : son art et ses amis, 1958], [unpaged]
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A.M. Hammacher, Exposition les amis de van Gogh : catalogue, 1960, p. 21
Introductions Günter Busch, Henning Bock, Emile Bernard 1868-1941 : peintures, dessins, gravures, 1967, p. 38
Katalogbearbeitung Henning Bock, Johann Heinrich Müller, Emile Bernard : Gemälde, Handzeichnungen, Aquarelle, Druckgraphik, 1967, pp. 9, 39
Mary Anne Stevens...[et al.], Emile Bernard 1868-1941. A Pioneer of Modern Art. Ein Wegbereiter der Moderne., cop. 1990, pp. 36, 112, 130, 158, 178, 187-197, 222-223, 234
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Vincent van Gogh and the birth of Cloisonism, 1981, pp. 149, 284-285, 286
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Aukje Vergeest, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, 2000, p. 61
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Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten en Nienke Bakker, Vincent van Gogh : painted with words : the letters to Émile Bernard, 2007, pp. 251-260, 263, 366
Fred Leeman; avec la collaboration de Béatrice Recchi-Altariba et Annie Champié ; documentation: Lucrezia Argyropoulos-Recchi et Céline Cordier, Emile Bernard (1868-1941), 2013, pp. 85-88, 93-94, 107, 120
Anne-Birgittte Fonsmark, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Bernard : friction of ideas, 2014, pp. 69, 72
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Jean-Jacques Luthi, Armand Israël, Emile Bernard : instigateur de l'école de Pont-Aven, précurseur de l'art moderne : sa vie, son oeuvre : catalogue raisonné, 2014, pp. 33, 105, 152
Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar van Heugten, Leo Jansen en Andreas Blühm (red.), De keuze van Vincent : Van Goghs Musée imaginaire, 2003, pp. 118, 226, 278, 306
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Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar van Heugten, Leo Jansen en Andreas Blühm, Vincents Wahlverwandtschaften : Van Goghs Musée imaginaire, 2003, pp. 118, 226, 278, 306
sous la direction de Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar van Heugten, Leo Jansen en Andreas Blühm, Le choix de Vincent : le musée imaginaire de Van Gogh, 2003, pp. 118, 226, 278, 306
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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, pp. 162, note 71 on p. 249, note 36 on p. 370, note 55 on p. 372
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