Winter (The Vicarage Garden under Snow)
Probably January 1885, Nuenen
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
On View

Van Gogh’s father was a Protestant minister; the artist himself had studied theology and pursued missionary work briefly before settling with his parents in the vicarage of a remote Dutch town in 1883. In this view across the vicarage garden, a lone figure clears a path, though the leafless bushes—or perhaps markers—at left give us pause: is this man shoveling snow, or digging a grave? From bare trees to dirty snow, to wintry, scumbled sky, the landscape is willfully, unremittingly bleak, a painted equivalent to Émile Zola’s grim Naturalist novels of the same period.

Details

  • Artist Name: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
  • Title: Winter (The Vicarage Garden under Snow)
  • Date: Probably January 1885, Nuenen
  • Medium: Oil on canvas, mounted to panel
  • Dimensions: 23 x 31-1/8 in. (58.4 x 79.1 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
  • Accession Number: F.1969.39.2.P
  • Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation

Object Information

C. Mouwen, Jr., Breda (sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, 3 May 1904, lot 6, as L’hiver, unsold).
[Oldenzeel Art Gallery, Rotterdam].
Henricus Petrus Bremmer (1871-1956), The Hague, 1905, by descent to;
his heirs.
?[E.V. Thaw & Co., New York; stock no. R8106];
?[Reid & Lefevre, London];
[E. J. van Wisselingh and Co., Amsterdam; stock no. S 2589, as L’Hiver; by 1963; offered 24 September 1969 and subsequently sold 22 October 1969 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.

Vincent van Gogh

  • Liège, Musée de Beaux Arts, 1946-10 to
  • Palais des beaux-arts (Brussels, Belgium), 1946-11-09 to 1946-12-19
  • Mons, Musée des Beaux Arts, 1947-01 to
  • Faille, J. B. de la, The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings,no. F194, p. 104-105, 145, 618-619 pp. 104-105, 145, 618-619
  • Berger, R., Art & Technology, pp. 15, 22, 27
  • Lecaldano, Paolo, L'opera completa di Van Gogh,no. 96 pp. 98-99
  • Versluys, W., Vincent van Gogh, 40 photo-calographies d'après ses tableaux et dessins,no. 17
  • van der Work, J., De Schetsboeken van Vincent van Gogh,no. 339 p. 290
  • Rudine, W., Follies, p. 2
  • Faille, J. B. de la, Vincent van Gogh,no. 209 p. 169
  • Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, Concealed van Gogh: Radiographic Images of Vincent van Gogh's Paintings in the Collection of the van Gogh Museum,under no. 4, fig. 4a
  • Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 163
  • I geni dell'arte: van Gogh, pp. 116-117
  • The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh,no. 394 p. 349
  • Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,2006,
  • Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, p. 223
  • Hulsker, Jan, Van Gogh en zijn weg,no. 603, pl. 137 pp. 134, 136, 144-146
  • Wilson, William, Los Angeles Times, p. 44
  • Sjraar van Heugten, Van Gogh in Provence: Modernizing Tradition,2016, fig. 15 pp. 37-39
  • Faille, J. B. de la, L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh, catalogue raisonné,vol. I, p. 59, no. 4; vol. II, pl. L, no. 194 p. 59
  • Hulsker, Jan, The Complete van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches,no. 603, pl. 137 pp. 134, 136, 144-146
  • Hulsker, Jan, Dageboek van Van Gogh, p. 69
  • Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 694 p. 328
  • Vanbeselaere, W., De Hollandische periode in het werk van Vincent van Gogh,no. 194 pp. 252-253, 294, 416
  • 25 Great Masters of Modern Art: van Gogh,no. 5 p. 108
  • Connaissance des Arts,no. 243 p. 13
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Additional Artwork by Artist

Autograph Letter from Auvers-Sur-Oise to the Ginoux Family in Arles Vincent van Gogh c. June 11, 1890
Back Garden of Sien's Mother's House, the Hague Vincent van Gogh 1882
Head of a Peasant Woman in a White Bonnet Vincent van Gogh 1885

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