Flame Nettle in a Flowerpot

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

oil on canvas, 42.1 cm x 21.9 cm

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

The subject could hardly be more domestic: a pot plant like this is something you expect to see on a windowsill, not in a Van Gogh painting. But he painted the flame nettle as a colour study.

He has used what are called ‘complementary colours’. For instance, the mainly rusty orange leaves are set against the contrasting blue of the background. And he has deliberately placed occasional green and red accents next to each other on the stem of the plant and elsewhere. Colour pairs of this kind are basic to the colour theory of French artist Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Van Gogh was a great admirer of Delacroix.

F-number
F0281
JH-number
JH1143
Object number
s0185V1962
Dimensions
42.1 cm x 21.9 cm, 50.7 cm x 30.7 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, sometime between the end of June and mid-July 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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