Portrait of a Man

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, October 1889

oil on canvas, 32.2 cm x 23.3 cm

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

This man was a fellow-patient at the psychiatric clinic in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh wrote to his mother, ‘It is strange that when one is with them for some time and is used to them, one no longer thinks about their being mad.’ In fact, following a severe crisis in the autumn he had become afraid of the other inmates.

Even so, he painted two portraits of them, including this quick oil sketch. Did he do it to overcome his anxiety? The top left-hand corner of the picture was damaged shortly after it was painted. Nobody knows how.

F-number
F0703
JH-number
JH1832
Object number
s0081V1962
Dimensions
32.2 cm x 23.3 cm, 41.8 cm x 33 cm
Provenance
With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after October 1889; 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, on 10 July 1962 to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam (ratified 28 December 1970); 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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Vienna, Kunstforum Wien, Kunst und Wahn, 5 September-8 December 1997, no. 348

Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, Voor gek gehouden, 11 December 1982-6 March 1983

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Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Jr., Vincent van Gogh : die Gemälde 1886-1890 : Händler, Sammler, Ausstellungen : die Frühen Provenienzen, 2009, p. 181

Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Jr., Vincent van Gogh : the years in France : complete paintings 1886-1890 : dealers, collectors, exhibitions, provenance, 2013, p. 183

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Serres, Karen, Van Gogh : self-portraits, 2022, pp. 55, 152

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