Kneeling Ecorché

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, June 1886

oil on cardboard, 35.2 cm x 26.8 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

An écorché is a figure shown without skin, so that all the muscles and tendons are visible. Such figures are used as aids in studying anatomy. Van Gogh had this type of plaster model, which he depicted here. He was then studying at the Antwerp art academy.

The painting is an exercise in suggesting volume. In traditional painting, volume is created through the play of light and shadow. But here Van Gogh tried to achieve the same effect through the thickness of his paint and the direction of his brushstrokes.

F-number
F0216f
JH-number
JH1076
Object number
s0102V1962
Dimensions
35.2 cm x 26.8 cm, 44 cm x 36 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, mid June 1886; 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)

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