Skull

Currently on view

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

oil on canvas, 40.7 cm x 30.5 cm

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

A skull is monochrome, but Van Gogh used many different colours to paint this one. Could he produce a convincing image of it in this way? This seems to have been the question in Van Gogh’s mind when he made this study in colour.

He has suggested the shiny surface of the skull by zigzagging a heavy brushload of white paint across it.

F-number
F0297a
JH-number
JH1347
Object number
s0128V1962
Dimensions
40.7 cm x 30.5 cm, 49.3 cm x 39.3 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 (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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