Skull

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, May 1887

oil on canvas, 42.4 cm x 30.4 cm

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

This painting is on display in the exhibition Van Gogh and Still Life: From Tradition to Innovation, at Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo, until 21 January 2024.

Van Gogh has used a narrow brush and blue paint to indicate the outlines of the skull. Thin paint alternates with thick: for the light reflections on the skull he has used heavy splodges of light-coloured paint.

Drying cracks are visible in many places. Look at the area immediately below the skull, for example. The paint has cracked because Van Gogh painted the skull over an earlier picture. He covered up the earlier image with a layer of zinc white – a kind of paint that dries extremely slowly. The drying out process continued after the skull had been painted over it, causing cracks to form in the top layer of paint.

F-number
F0297
JH-number
JH1346
Object number
s0123V1962
Dimensions
42.4 cm x 30.4 cm, 50.7 cm x 38.7 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, at the beginning of May 1887; 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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Sendai, Miyagi Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Paris. New perspectives, 26 May-8 July 2013

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Curiger, Bice, Bonami, Francesco, Bernadac, Marie-Laure, Lavrador, Judicaël, Marchand, Julia, Corbett, John, De Ton, Delfeil, Soleil chaud, soleil tardif : les modernes indomptés = Hot sun, late sun : modernism untamed, 2018, p. 92, 223

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Vellekoop, Marije, Hendriks, Ella, Jansen, Leo, Meedendorp, Teio, Bakker, Nienke, Dijk, Maite van, Van Gogh's studio practice, 2013, p. 158, 211, 213, 315, 319

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