Breton Girl Spinning

Currently on view

Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903), Le Pouldu, 1889

oil on plaster, 135 cm x 62 cm

Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

This Breton girl was once part of a series of decorative murals. Paul Gauguin painted her in Le Pouldu in Brittany: ‘in the inn where we eat’.

Writing to his friend Van Gogh, Gauguin called the girl ‘a peasant woman spinning at the sea’s edge’. (The spindle hangs from her hand on a thread that is now almost invisible.) He described the whole painting, down to the cow in the background. Oddly enough, though, his letter doesn’t mention the angel overhead. We don’t know exactly what he meant by it. Joan of Arc was traditionally portrayed this way, because of her vision of the Archangel Michael.

Object number
s0513S2006
Dimensions
135 cm x 62 cm, 149.5 cm x 78 cm
Provenance
Marie Henry, Le Pouldu, 1889; sold by Marie Henry to Mme Le Roch, Le Pouldu, 1911; sold by Mme Le Roch to Joseph de Cadenet, Le Pouldu, 1918; sold by Joseph de Cadenet to Mme Cochennec, Le Pouldu, 1920; sold by Mme Cochennec to Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Rattner, New York, 1925; auction New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries (Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Drawings ...), lot 118 (Jeanne d'Arc) purchased by Frederick W. Ziv, Cincinnati for USD 65.000, 14 October 1965; sold by Frederick W. Ziv to M. Erdman B.V., 2002; sold by M. Erdman B.V to the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 5 april 2006.
artist
Paul Gauguin
Credits
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Ongekend. Verhalen rond 10 jaar aanwinsten, 5 February-12 September 2021

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