Flowers
Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 - 1904), 1877
oil on canvas, 54.5 cm x 61.2 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Flower still lifes like this one are characteristic of the French artist Fantin-Latour. The genre was popular, and his many paintings of flowers sold like hot cakes. He himself preferred painting dreamy figure pieces, but those did not sell nearly as well. He lamented, ‘I feel like I am an art dealer. Never before have I had so many ideas about art in my head and now I am forced to paint flowers.’
This flower still life entered the museum’s collection because it was purchased by Jo van Gogh-Bonger in 1909. She was Theo van Gogh’s wife. It occupied a prominent place above her work space.
- Object number
- s0219V1962
- Dimensions
- 54.5 cm x 61.2 cm, 71.8 cm x 78.5 cm, 6.2 cm
- Provenance
- Edwin Edwards, London; Ch. Forestier, Paris; F. & J. Tempelaere, Paris; Cornelis Marinus van Gogh, Amsterdam, at least until May 1909; sold by Cornelis Marinus van Gogh to Jo Cohen Gosschalk-Bonger, Amsterdam for fl. 3400, May 1909; after her death in 1925, inherited by her son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh 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; 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
- Henri Fantin-Latour
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Ōsaka, Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Van Gogh’s Home, the Van Gogh Museum: The Painter, The Family, The Legacy (working title)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh en de Zonnebloemen, 21 June-1 September 2019
Gouda, Museum Gouda, Henri Fantin-Latour, dromen op doek, 25 October 2013-31 March 2014
Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Fantin-Latour : de la réalité au rêve, 29 June-28 October 2007, no. 50
Tokyo, Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, Vincent van Gogh and his time. Still lifes from the Van Gogh Museum and the H.W. Mesdag Museum, 12 September-11 November 1996, no. 24
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Collectie Theo van Gogh, April-May 1960, no. 35
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Collectie Theo van Gogh, February 1960, no. 35
Luijten, Hans, Alles voor Vincent : het leven van Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Amsterdam, 2024
Luijten, Hans, Richards, L., Jo van Gogh-Bonger : The woman who made Vincent famous, London, 2023, p. 249
Bakker, Nienke, Hendriks, Ella, Van Gogh and the Sunflowers : a masterpiece examined, Amsterdam, 2019, p. 16
Bakker, Nienke, Hendriks, Ella, Van Gogh en de Zonnebloemen : een meesterwerk onderzocht, Amsterdam, 2019, p. 16
Tas, Sara, Fantin in Nederland : 'een meester voor wiens bescheiden tederheid wij Hollanders altijd gevoelig blijven', p. 40-41
Cosandier, J., Fantin-Latour : de la réalité au rêve, Lausanne, 2007, p. 102, 184
Stolwijk, Chris, Veenenbos, H., Heugten, Sjraar van, The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Leiden, 2002, p. 52-53, 127-128, 149, 150, 163, 200
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 171
Heugten, Sjraar van, Lindert, J. van, Senzoku, Nobuyuki, Tilborgh, Louis van, Vincent van Gogh and his time : still lifes from the Van Gogh Museum and the H.W. Mesdag Museum, Tokyo, 1996, p. 94-95, 147-148
Leeuw, Ronald de, Van Gogh Museum : schilderijen en pastels, Zwolle, 1993, p. 40-41
Gogh, Vincent Willem van, Collectie Theo van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1960, [unpaged]