Torso of Venus

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

oil on cardboard, 46.4 cm x 38.1 cm

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

Practice makes perfect: in June 1886, van Gogh painted this study of a plaster model of a classical sculpture. It was part of a whole series of such studies. This standing torso of Venus must have been his favourite model: he made no fewer than five studies of it. Two of them are now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum.

Van Gogh painted the background deep blue. He thought there was ‘nothing so fine as [cobalt blue] for putting space around things’ – in other words, for creating an illusion of depth.

F-number
F0216b
JH-number
JH1060
Object number
s0089V1962
Dimensions
46.4 cm x 38.1 cm, 55.1 cm x 46.8 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; donated by Vincent Willem van Gogh to the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 11 March 1952; transferred by the (1st) Vincent van Gogh Foundation to the Theo van Gogh Foundation, Laren, 28 December 1960; agreement concluded on 21 July 1962 between the (2nd) Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 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; donated on 21 July 1962 by the Theo van Gogh Foundation to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation; 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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