Shoes

Currently on view

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, January-February 1887

oil on cardboard, 32.7 cm x 40.8 cm

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

Dirty old shoes: this was not the first time that Van Gogh painted this unusual subject. These ones have worn soles and sagging elastic. He had a preference for things ‘that bore the scars of life’. Only then were they of interest to him.

In this picture, Van Gogh used oil paint heavily thinned with turpentine. You can see this from the way the line at the back of the right-hand shoe has dribbled downwards. Thinned oil paint produces a similar effect to watercolour and is known as peinture à l’essence. Van Gogh had only recently begun to experiment with this medium.

F-number
F0331
JH-number
JH1235
Object number
s0127V1962
Dimensions
32.7 cm x 40.8 cm, 47.7 cm x 55.8 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, January-February 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; given on loan by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, since 22 October 1931; 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; 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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