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Lot Essay
The present work was drawn while van Gogh was residing on the outskirts of The Hague. He was living with Sien Hoornik (see note to lot 401), who had a daughter Maria about six years old, and gave birth to a second child in July 1882. While Vincent has not married to Sien, and neither child was his, he was deeply in love with her.
Van Gogh and his make-shift family had been staying in the cramped quarters that the artist took when he first arrived in Hague in early 1882. To accommodate the new child and to finally establish a sizable working studio, van Gogh took a larger group of rooms in an attic next door at 136 Schenkweg. "The enormous, completely timbered attic could, if necessary make a grand studio, although the room facing north would actually have to be used as such. And the price for here is exceptionally low and would be about double in town. Three guldens a week for a large upper story is very little, even by comparison with neighborhoods like the Noordwal or Buitensingels. And for a painter the location is perfect. The view from the attic window is fascinating" (Letter 209). He persuaded his landlord to install wooden shutters inside the windows, which enabled the artist to adjust the natural light that entered the rooms.
A settled domestic life and finally the availability of a real studio space was of great significance to the artist at this early stage in his career. While he continued to work outdoors and sketch in the street, he could now study the figure more completely indoors, and his skill at characterization increased. By changing the light in his studio he could illuminate his sitters with more variety, and during this period the artist experimented with more dramatic chiaroscuro effects. Indeed, even the financial constraints on his existence served to advance his skills as a draughtsman. Vincent frequently exhausted his supply of oil paints, and even when money did arrive from his brother Theo, he had to apportion these funds between his studio and domestic needs. However, pencil and watercolor was always available, and his production of sketches and colored drawings continued at a prodigious rate, especially in winter, when the weather prevented him from painting outdoors.
The model in the present drawing is probably Sien. She, her mother, younger sister and her own two children were van Gogh's most frequent figure subjects during his stay in the The Hague. Since his arrival more than a year before, his figures acquired a more monumental aspect, in which the artist carefully balances light and shade, volume and space. Vincent had considered going to London to seek work as an illustrator, but wondered how the realism of his work would fare in a sophisticated, cosmopolitan market. When the magazine The Graphic planned to publish a series devoted to "types of beauty," Vincent joked with Theo about supplying "Heads of the People." "I cannot make 'Types of Beauty,' he wrote, "but I do my best on 'Heads of People.' You see, Theo, I would like to do what those who started The Graphic did, even though I do not regard myself as their equal, and that is to take a fellow or girl off the street and draw them in my studio" (Letter 252).
Van Gogh and his make-shift family had been staying in the cramped quarters that the artist took when he first arrived in Hague in early 1882. To accommodate the new child and to finally establish a sizable working studio, van Gogh took a larger group of rooms in an attic next door at 136 Schenkweg. "The enormous, completely timbered attic could, if necessary make a grand studio, although the room facing north would actually have to be used as such. And the price for here is exceptionally low and would be about double in town. Three guldens a week for a large upper story is very little, even by comparison with neighborhoods like the Noordwal or Buitensingels. And for a painter the location is perfect. The view from the attic window is fascinating" (Letter 209). He persuaded his landlord to install wooden shutters inside the windows, which enabled the artist to adjust the natural light that entered the rooms.
A settled domestic life and finally the availability of a real studio space was of great significance to the artist at this early stage in his career. While he continued to work outdoors and sketch in the street, he could now study the figure more completely indoors, and his skill at characterization increased. By changing the light in his studio he could illuminate his sitters with more variety, and during this period the artist experimented with more dramatic chiaroscuro effects. Indeed, even the financial constraints on his existence served to advance his skills as a draughtsman. Vincent frequently exhausted his supply of oil paints, and even when money did arrive from his brother Theo, he had to apportion these funds between his studio and domestic needs. However, pencil and watercolor was always available, and his production of sketches and colored drawings continued at a prodigious rate, especially in winter, when the weather prevented him from painting outdoors.
The model in the present drawing is probably Sien. She, her mother, younger sister and her own two children were van Gogh's most frequent figure subjects during his stay in the The Hague. Since his arrival more than a year before, his figures acquired a more monumental aspect, in which the artist carefully balances light and shade, volume and space. Vincent had considered going to London to seek work as an illustrator, but wondered how the realism of his work would fare in a sophisticated, cosmopolitan market. When the magazine The Graphic planned to publish a series devoted to "types of beauty," Vincent joked with Theo about supplying "Heads of the People." "I cannot make 'Types of Beauty,' he wrote, "but I do my best on 'Heads of People.' You see, Theo, I would like to do what those who started The Graphic did, even though I do not regard myself as their equal, and that is to take a fellow or girl off the street and draw them in my studio" (Letter 252).