Portraits by Vincent van Gogh
lived during the Impressionist era. With the development of photography, painters and artists turned to conveying the feeling and ideas behind people, places, and things rather than trying to imitate their physical forms. Impressionist artists did this by emphasizing certain hues, using vigorous brushstrokes, and paying attention to highlighting. Vincent van Gogh implemented this ideology to pursue his goal of depicting his own feelings toward and involvement with his subjects. Van Gogh's portraiture focuses on color and brushstrokes to demonstrate their inner qualities and Van Gogh's own relationship with them.
Vincent van Gogh painted portraits throughout his career from 1881 through 1890.
The Netherlands and Brussels (1881–1886)
Van Gogh was fascinated with making portraits early in his artistic career. He wrote to his brother, Theo while studying in The Hague, "I want to do a drawing that not quite everybody will understand, the figure simplified to the essentials, with a deliberate disregard of those details that do not belong to the actual character and are merely accidental." As an example, he discussed having their parents pose for a painting, but that, in capturing the character of a "poor village clergyman" or "a couple who have grown old together in love and fidelity", they may not appreciate the work, because in doing so the painting would not be an exact likeness. Even so, he considered it a "serious matter" to focus on their character, one where his approach should be trusted.Joseph Blok
Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in November 1882 that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok, a street bookseller who was sometimes called "Binnenhof's outdoor librarian". Unlike the character studies, the work was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk. At this time it was rare for Van Gogh to use color, as he found it difficult to work with.Peasant character studies
In November 1882, Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class. The "peasant genre" that greatly influenced Van Gogh began in the 1840s with the works of Jean-François Millet, Jules Breton, and others. In 1885, Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art.Van Gogh held laborers up to a high standard of how dedicatedly he should approach painting, "One must undertake with confidence, with a certain assurance that one is doing a reasonable thing, like the farmer who drives his plow... drags the harrow behind himself. If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse."
To depicting the essence of the life of the peasant and their spirit, Van Gogh lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather or long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in schools, he noted, and became frustrated by traditionalists who focused on technique more so than the nature of the people being captured. So thoroughly engaged in living the peasant lifestyle, his appearance and manner of speech began to separate himself from others, but this was a cost he believed he needed to bear for his artistic development.
''Portrait of a Woman in Blue''
''Portrait of a Woman with Red Ribbon''
''Portrait of an Old Man with Beard''
Van Gogh described his sitter for this painting a "wonderful old man." It was made in Antwerp where Van Gogh hoped to bring in money to support himself by painting portraits.Sien
Van Gogh made a series of paintings of Sien Hoornik, a prostitute whom he met and took in when he lived at The Hague. Included in the series are works of Sien's daughter, Maria, her newborn son and her mother.Paris (1886–1888)
Alexander Reid
Agostina Segatori
Van Gogh occasionally visited Café du Tambourin run by Agostina Segatori, the subject of this painting. Previously an artist's model to Manet and Corot and others, the Naples-born Agostina saved the money she earned working as a model and opened the Italian themed Café du Tambourin in 1885, which particularly catered to artists.The Italian Woman also called La Italienne is "without doubt" Agostina Segatori, per the Musée d'Orsay. Van Gogh introduced elements of Japanese woodcut prints in this portrait. Van Gogh creates his own style of brushstroke from Impressionism and Pointillism, in this case a "criss-cross of overlapping nervous hatching. He uses red and green in her face which he later described as a technique "to be able to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green".
Etienne-Lucien Martin
The Portrait of Etienne-Lucien Martin was made of the owner of a restaurant in Paris. He allowed artists to exhibit their work. In November 1887 Van Gogh and his friends showed their works; Van Gogh did not sell a painting. Van Gogh made the painting of Martin with care and precision.Leonie Rose Davy-Charbuy
Art dealer Pierre Firmin-Martin, a friend of Van Gogh's brother Theo, displayed some of Van Gogh's paintings. Mother by a Cradle, Portrait of Leonie Rose Davy-Charbuy was made of Martin's niece who lived with her uncle. Reflective of the family's interest in art, paintings hang in the background. In the year the painting was made Theo commented that Van Gogh done a good job painting portraits but had never asked for payment.''Nude study of a Little Girl''
Père Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1887, is one of three paintings of Julien Tanguy. The three works demonstrate a progression in Van Gogh's artistic style since arriving in Paris. The first painting is somber and the composition is simple. In the second painting Van Gogh introduces his Japanese prints. The last and most advanced in style, skill and color reflects integration of Japanese, Impressionist, and other influences of the Parisian artist community. The painting conveys a sense of serenity that Van Gogh seeks for himself. This last painting of Tanguy is in the Musée Rodin, Paris.Père Tanguy was a Breton who was exiled and pardoned after taking part in the Paris Commune. When Vincent van Gogh knew him, he owned a small artist's supply shop. The shop was an important to the painters of the era. Impressionist painters in Paris were commonly found in Père Tanguy's shop. Painters like Cézanne, Pissarro, and Gauguin, as well as their paintings, frequented the shop. Van Gogh painted a few portraits of Père Tanguy. This specific portrait was painted in the winter of 1887-88.
''Portrait of a Man''
''Portrait of a Man with a Moustache''
''Portrait of a Woman''
''Portrait of a Woman, Facing Right''
''The Smoker''
''Woman Sitting in the Grass''
Arles (1888–1889)
Van Gogh went to Arles for the sun, color and country lifestyle but more than anything else "what I really hope to do is paint a good portrait."Doctor Rey
According to Doiteau and Leroy, one day Van Gogh wanted to present a painting he had just finished to Dr. Rey. But the doctor refused the gift, so Van Gogh offered the painting to the pharmacist of the hospital just passing by, a Mr Rousseau. He, too, refused and so the next passer-by, the administrator of the hospital, was offered the painting – and he, a certain Mr Neuvière, is said to have accepted.Rey later reminisced: "When I saw that he outlined my head entirely in green, that he painted my hair and my mustache--I really did not have red hair--in a blazing red on a biting green background, I was simply horrified..."
The Ginoux Family
Marie Ginoux, born Jullian in Arles, and her husband Joseph married February 2, 1866, and ran the Café de la Gare, at 30 Place Lamartine.''La Mousmé''
La Mousmé was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1888 while living in Arles, which Van Gogh dubbed "the Japan of the south". Retreating from the city, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art. Inspired by Pierre Loti's novel Madame Chrysanthème and Japanese artwork, Vincent painted La Mousmé, a well-dressed Japanese girl.''The Zouave''
Van Gogh, excited to have a model for a portrait, worked on the portraits of a Zouave in June 1888 in Arles. Van Gogh described him as a boy, with a small face, large neck and intense eyes. A half-length portrait was made of the tanned man with bright colors he called a "savage combination of incongruous tones". The Zouave's uniform was blue with red-orange braids, a red cap and two yellow stars on his chest, all placed against the background of a green door and orange bricks. Unsatisfied with the painting, he called it "ugly and unsuccessful", but thought the challenge might expand his artistic skill. Van Gogh also made a drawing, of which he was not particularly pleased, and a painting of the Zouave against a white wall.''Head of a Girl''
This portrait, and The Zouave, was one of the two portraits by van Gogh in 1888 of anonymous subjects, that he sent to his Australian artist friend John Russell. Like The Zouave, Van Gogh compared his subject to an animal. He called the girl "a dirty mudlark".''The Lover'': Paul-Eugène Milliet
Paul-Eugène Milliet was a 2nd Lieutenant at the 3rd Zouave Regiment which had quarters at the Caserne Calvin located on Boulevard des Lices in Arles. Vincent van Gogh gave him drawing lessons, and in return Milliet took a roll of paintings by Van Gogh to Paris, when in mid August he was passing the French capital on his way to the North, where Milliet spent his holidays. On his return to Arles, at the end of September 1888, Milliet handed over a batch of Ukiyo-e woodcuts and other prints selected by Vincent's brother Theo from their collection. In the days that followed Vincent executed this portrait of Milliet.In the first version of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, executed in October 1888, Milliet's portrait is shown hanging to the right of the portrait of Eugène Boch.
Decades later, when Milliet had retired to the 7th arrondissement in Paris, his memories of Van Gogh were recorded by Pierre Weiller, at this time living on lease in a building owned by Milliet, and published in 1955, after Milliet's death.