Vincent van Gogh
1853–1890 | Dutch

Buste de paysanne
(Bust of a Peasant Woman)

Oil on canvas

One of the most significant artists of all time, Vincent van Gogh profoundly shaped the course of art history. Paintings from his brief yet transformative Nuenen period are among the rarest and most coveted in his oeuvre. Entitled Buste de paysanne, this striking portrait from the winter of 1884-85 is one of the few peasant portraits from van Gogh's time in Nuenen still left in private hands.

By 1884, van Gogh had reluctantly joined his family in Nuenen, where he was surprised to find renewed purpose and direction for his art. He immersed himself in the local community, reconnecting with his roots and becoming especially fascinated with the town’s peasant workers. Van Gogh was enthralled with their closeness to land, skilled labor and quiet endurance, admirable qualities that he felt modern urban society had lost. He noted his obsession in one of his letters to his brother Theo: “I’ve become so absorbed in peasant life by continually seeing it at all hours of the day that I really hardly ever think of anything else.” (Letter no. 493)

In Buste de paysanne, van Gogh’s deep connection to his subject comes powerfully to life. The woman’s piercing gaze is utterly mesmerizing, and the paint is thickly applied in rich, bold strokes, a revolutionary technique that would become van Gogh’s hallmark. This masterwork perfectly embodies van Gogh’s genius for capturing the true essence of his sitters. As the artist said himself, “One must paint the peasants as if one were one of them, as feeling, thinking as they do themselves.”

Van Gogh set out to complete 50 of these peasant heads by the end of the winter of 1885—47 of which survive today. Because of their crucial importance in preparing the artist for his first groundbreaking masterpiece—The Potato Eaters (1885)—most of these peasant portraits are already in major museum collections around the world. The Van Gogh Museum alone owns 10, with others residing in the collections of Kröller-Müller Museum, Musée d’Orsay, National Gallery London, National Galleries of Scotland, Belgian Royal Museums, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Norton Simon Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Kunstmuseum Bern and many more. Our portrait, Buste de paysanne, is thus one of only roughly 10 still left in private hands, marking it as an exceptionally rare treasure of art history.

December 1884-January 1885

Viewable canvas: 12” high x 9” wide (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Overall canvas: 13 3/4" high x 10 1/4" wide (35 x 26 cm)
Framed: 23” high x 20 1/4” wide x 2 1/4” deep (58.4 x 51.4 x 5.7 cm)

View the Dossier

Provenance:
C. Mouwen, Jr., Breda, Netherlands
Kunstzalen Oldenzeel, Rotterdam
T.G.M. van Hettinga Tromp, The Hague
Mrs. H.T. Feldmann-van Hettinga Tromp, Epse, Netherlands
Private Collection, Amsterdam
Private Collection, Japan (by 1984)
Sale: Christie's New York, May 15, 1985, lot 8
Private Collection
Myron M. Kaplan, Englewood, New Jersey
Michael Altman Fine Art & Advisory Services, New York (acquired by 2006)
Private Collection, acquired from the above in 2008
M.S. Rau, New Orleans

Literature:
J.-B. de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh, Paris, 1939, no. 170, illustrated
J.-B. de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1970, no. 136a, illustrated p. 87
J. Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York, 1980, no. 548, listed and illustrated p. 127; mentioned p. 136 (titled Peasant Woman, Head)
J. Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York, 1984, no. 548, listed and illustrated p. 127; listed p. 496 (titled Peasant Woman, Head)
I. Walther and R. Metzger, Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Paintings, vol. I, 1990, illustrated in color p. 74 (in reverse) (titled Head of a Peasant Woman with Dark Cap)
J. Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, 1996, no. 548, listed p. 126; illustrated p. 127; mentioned p. 142 (titled Peasant Woman, Head)

Exhibited:
Rotterdam, Kunstzalen Oldenzeel, Vincent van Gogh, 1904, no. 15

Vincent van Gogh

Buste de paysanne by Vincent van Gogh