現代筆記 vol.01 從《巴黎小說與玫瑰》看梵高的「作品傳記」：62,710,000 美元背後的展覽史與文獻史 - Van Gogh’s Parisian Novels and Roses: A $62.71 Million Case Study in Exhibition History and Object Biography
- SACA
- 2 days ago
- 22 min read
2025 年 11 月 20 日，梵高《巴黎小說與玫瑰》（Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre）在拍場以 62,710,000 美元成交，再次刷新市場對「書本靜物」這一題材的想像。對 SACA 學會而言，這不僅是一則現代藝術新聞，而是一件幾乎「教科書式」呈現作品傳承鏈的標本：從梵高與其家族的內部流轉，到 20 世紀歐洲畫廊與藏家之間的交接，再到跨越百年的展覽與圖錄著錄，《巴黎小說與玫瑰》完整示範了一件作品如何在學術體系中被反覆書寫、在市場體系中被持續定價。
在「現代筆記」欄目中，我們藉由這幅聚焦「閱讀與書本」的靜物畫，對照東亞古代藝術中圍繞經典、藏書與文人書齋圖像所形成的傳統，思考一個關鍵問題：當梵高的畫作已擁有清晰而密集的展覽史與文獻史時，中國青銅、書畫與宋瓷在全球敘事中欠缺的，又究竟是哪一段尚待補寫的「作品傳記」。
On 20 November 2025 in New York, Vincent van Gogh’s Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens) realized USD 62,710,000 at auction. For SACA, a platform devoted primarily to ancient Chinese art, this is not merely a headline about Western modern painting, but a textbook example of how a single work can be written and rewritten over more than a century—through family inheritance, carefully documented provenance, major gallery ownership, and a dense record of exhibitions and publications.
In our “Modern Notes” column, we treat this still life of yellow Parisian novels and a single rose as an object biography in its own right, and as a mirror for our own field: setting Van Gogh’s meticulously constructed exhibition and literature history alongside the often-fragmentary records of Chinese bronzes, paintings, and Song ceramics, and asking what is still missing if those ancient works are to claim an equally secure place in the global canon.
拍賣已結束
2025 November 21, 07:43 AM HKT
估價
待詢
拍品已售
62,710,000 USD
這幅完成於 1887 年末的畫作，表面上是幾摞「巴黎小說」與一枝玫瑰的靜物，但它被反覆討論的，並非只是色彩與構圖，而是圍繞著「書」與「閱讀」的文化意義——從早年的《聖經與小說》到後來數幅以書本為主題的靜物，梵高用不同形式把自我認同、時代感與閱讀經驗投射在畫面中。對於長期研究經典文本、碑志、藏書印與題跋的東亞古代藝術史來說，這種「以書為題」的創作，與我們熟悉的文人案頭、書齋圖像之間，並非全然陌生，而是一種在不同文明中反覆出現的「知識分子自畫像」傳統。
從古代藝術的角度看，這件作品真正值得重視的，並不僅是拍賣價格，而是它那幾乎「教科書式」的來源與展覽履歷：從梵高本人生前兄弟之間的傳承，經由 20 世紀初幾位關鍵歐洲畫廊與收藏家，再到多次被納入重要學術展覽——從 1888 年獨立沙龍，到 20 世紀各大德語區與法語區美術館，再至 21 世紀倫敦、阿姆斯特丹與芝加哥的大型梵高回顧展。這條清晰而密集的 provenance，不只是「乾淨」，更指出一個事實：一件作品能夠在百年中被反覆展出、反覆著錄，靠的並不只是畫家的名聲，而是一整套穩定運作的學術與市場機制。
對熟悉中國文物的人而言，這種「作品—收藏—展覽—文獻」的閉環，與我們在高等級青銅器、書畫或宋元名瓷上追索的「傳承線索」，本質上相通。不同的是，在梵高這類藍籌作品身上，我們幾乎可以看到一份同步的「展覽史」與「書目史」：自 1920 年代起，這幅畫不斷出現在風格史、展覽史與梵高專著之中，標題從《Romans parisiens》到《Les Livres jaunes》、《Still Life with French Novels and a Rose》，每一次命名、每一次釋題，都是對作品性質的一次重新界定。這種「被不斷重寫的作品身份」，與我們今天試圖為某一件出土器、傳世瓷重建「物傳記」（object biography）的努力，其實在方法上具備可比性。
「現代筆記」關注這類個案，並不是要把 SACA 變成現代西畫的新聞匯總，而是試圖回答幾個對古代藝術同樣關鍵的問題：一件作品如何被選入「正典」？誰在書寫它的歷史？學術機構、收藏家、畫廊與拍賣行，在其中各扮演什麼角色？當我們批評當代市場過度追逐價格與話題時，也不得不承認，正是這種穿梭於展覽、出版與交易之間的長期運作，使得某些作品的地位被一再加固、被全球博物館體系所承認。
對中國古代藝術而言，這種比較並非「附庸風雅」，而是提醒我們：如果不去建構類似嚴謹的展覽史與文獻史，即便是最頂級的青銅、書畫與宋瓷，也可能在國際敘事中缺席。梵高《巴黎小說與玫瑰》之所以在今天看來如此「穩固」，並不只是因為它畫得好，而是因為一整個世紀中，圍繞它的研究、展覽與出版從未中斷。
「現代筆記」欄目中選擇梵高這樣的個案，並不是要擴張領域，而是希望借由對現代經典的觀察，反向照亮中國古代藝術在當代全球藝術體系中的位置：我們缺少的是什麼？哪些環節可以被補上？未來在策展、出版與學術合作上，又有哪些可能的路徑？從這個意義上說，「關注現代」並不是離開本業，而是以更專業的視角回到我們真正關心的問題——如何讓古代作品的價值，在當代語境下被看見、被理解、也被尊重。
THE CINDY AND JAY PRITZKER COLLECTION
Vincent Van GoghPiles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens)
Auction Closed
November 21, 07:43 AM HKT
Estimate
Upon Request
Lot Sold
62,710,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection
Vincent van Gogh
(1853 - 1890)
Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens)
oil on canvas
28 ⅞ by 36 ¼ in. 73.3 by 92.1 cm.
Executed in November-December 1887.
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Saleroom Notice
Please note that this work has been requested for exhibition Van Gogh and His Circle: Looking Back to the Future, to be held at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City in 2028.
Provenance
Theo van Gogh, Paris (acquired by descent from the artist)
Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Amsterdam (acquired by descent from the above)
Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren (acquired by descent from the above)
Antonio Mancini, Paris (probably acquired through Julien Tanguy)
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the above on 6 April 1907)
Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne (acquired in 1916)
Galerie Tanner, Zurich (acquired in 1916)
Dr. Georg Boner, Baden and Zurich (acquired from the above in 1918)
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired by descent from the above)
Christie’s, London, 27 June 1988, lot 17 (consigned by the above)
Robert Holmes à Court, Perth (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above through Richard L. Feigen & Co. on 17 February 1994 by the present owner
Exhibited
Paris, Pavillon de la Ville, IV Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, 1888, no. 658 (titled Romans Parisiens)
Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Fleurs et Natures Mortes, 1907, no. 27 (titled Les livres)
Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Cent Tableaux de Vincent van Gogh, 1908, no. 32 (titled Les livres)
Berlin, Ausstellungshaus am Kurfürstendamm, Achtzehnten Austellung der Berliner Secession, 1909, illustrated (titled Bücher)
Paris, Galerie E. Druet, Cinquante Tableaux de Vincent van Gogh, 1909, no. 8 (titled Les Livres)
Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, L’Eau, 1911, no. 22 (titled Les livres)
Berlin, Paul Cassirer, Cologne, Kölner Kunstverein and Hamburg, Galerie Commeter, Vincent van Gogh, 1914, no. 98, illustrated (titled Die Bücher and dated 1888)
Kunsthaus Zürich, Ausstellung, 1916, no. 197 (titled Les livres jaunes)
Kunsthalle Basel, Vincent van Gogh, 1924, no. 24, p. 7 (titled Die Bücher)
Kunsthaus Zürich, Vincent van Gogh, 1924, no. 22, p. 15 (titled Stilleben, Bücher)
Berlin, Galerie Matthiesen, Das Stilleben in der deutschen und französischen Malerei von 1850 bis zur Gegenwart, 1927, no. 124, p. 49; p. 91, illustrated (titled Bücher mit Rose)
Paris, La Gazette des Beaux-Arts et Beaux-Arts, La Peinture française du XIXe siècle en Suisse, 1938, no. 125, pp. 57-58; pl. XLIII, illustrated (titled Les Livres Jaunes (Romans Parisiens))
Kunsthalle Basel, Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890, 1947, no. 43, p. 23 (titled Romans Parisiens)
Paris, Petit Palais, De Géricault à Matisse, chefs d’oeuvre français des collections suisses, 1959, no. 65 (titled Les livres jaunes (romans parisiens))
Aarau, Aargauer Kunstverein, Aus Aargauischen Privatbesitz 1. Teil. von den Impressionisten bis zur Gegenwart, 1960, no. 142 (titled Les livres jaunes)
Lausanne, Palais de Beaulieu, Chefs-d’Oeuvre des Collections Suisses de Manet à Picasso, 1964, no. 112, illustrated (titled Les livres jaunes (romans parisiens))
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Chefs-d’Oeuvre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso, 1967, no. 101, illustrated (titled Les livres jaunes (romans parisiens))
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Van Gogh à Paris, 1988, no. 56, pp. 13, 140, 151 and 158; p. 152, illustrated in color (titled Romans parisiens)
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh Paintings, 1990, no. 29, p. 88; p. 89, illustrated in color (titled Still Life with Books and dated winter 1887-88)
Essen, Museum Folkwang and Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement, 1890-1914, 1990-91, no. 17, pp. 90-91; p. 92, illustrated in color (titled Still-life: Romans parisiens with a Rose and dated 1887-88)
The Art Institute of Chicago and Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh and Gauguin, The Studio of the South, 2001-02, no. 25, p. 91, illustrated in color (Chicago only)
London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, 2010, no. 123, pp. 226-27, illustrated in color (titled Romans Parisiens (Les Livres Jaunes))
The Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh’s Bedrooms, 2016, n.n., pl. 9, illustrated in color (titled Parisian Novels)
Literature
Néo (Paul Signac), “IVe Exposition des Artistes Indépendants,” Le Cri du Peuple, 29 March 1888
Gustave Geffroy, “Pointillé Cloisonnisme,” La Justice, 11 April 1888, no. 3010 (titled Romans parisiens)
Jules Christophe, “Le Néoimpressionisme au Pavillon de la Ville de Paris,” Journal des artistes, 6 May 1888, p. 148
Julius Elias, “Das Zehnte Berliner Sezessionsjahr,” Kunst und Künstler, Berlin, June 1909, p. 402, illustrated (titled Bücher)
Kurt Pfister, Vincent van Gogh, Potsdam, 1922, pl. 25, illustrated (titled Bücher)
Gustave Coquiot, Vincent van Gogh, Paris, 1923, p. 136 (titled Les Livres ou Romans parisiens)
Théodore Duret, Van Gogh, Paris, 1924, pl. IV, illustrated (titled Les Livres)
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, L’Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1928, no. 359, vol. I, p. 101; vol. II, pl. XCVII, illustrated (titled Les Livres jaunes (romans parisiens))
Beeldende Kunst, vol. XV, no. 76, circa 1929, n.p., illustrated
Archibald Standish Hartrick, A Painter’s Pilgrimage Through Fifty Years, Cambridge, 1939, p. 46 (titled Romans Parisiens)
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh, New York, 1939, no. 231, p. 184, illustrated
A.M. Rosset, Van Gogh, Paris, 1941, pl. 42, illustrated (titled Les Livres jaunes: Romans parisiens)
Carl Nordenfalk, “Van Gogh and Literature,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, vol. X, 1947, pp. 142-3f, pl. 37b, illustrated (titled Parisian Novels)
Georg Schmidt, Van Gogh, Bern, 1947, pl. 15, n.p., illustrated (titled Die Gelben Bücher)
Jean Leymarie, Van Gogh, Paris, 1951, pl. 29, illustrated; p. 99 (titled Les livres jaunes (Romans Parisiens))
Werner Weisbach, Vincent van Gogh, Kunst und Schicksal, vol. II, Basel, 1951, p. 41; pl. 22, illustrated (titled Stilleben mit Büchern)
Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson, Portrait of Vincent, a van Gogh Biography, London, 1955, pp. 175-76 (titled Romans Parisiens)
Exh. Cat., London, Marlborough Fine Art, Van Gogh’s Life in his Drawings; Van Gogh’s Relationship with Signac, 1962, pp. 92-93
Pierre Cabanne, Van Gogh, London, 1963, p. 96 (titled The Yellow Books (Parisian Novels))
Phoebe Pool, Impressionism, New York and Washington, D.C., 1967, pl. 165, p. 213, illustrated in color; pp. 214 and 279 (titled The Yellow Books, Parisian Novels)
Jean Leymarie, Who was Van Gogh?, Geneva, 1968, p. 75, illustrated (titled The Yellow Books (Parisian Novels))
Marc Edo Tralbaut, Vincent van Gogh, New York, 1969, p. 202 (titled Yellow Books)
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings, New York, 1970, no. 359, pp. 168-69, illustrated (titled Still Life: Romans Parisiens with a Rose)
Mark Roskill, Van Gogh, Gauguin and the Impressionist Circle, Greenwich, 1970, p. 151 (titled French Novels)
Françoise Cachin, Paul Signac, Greenwich, 1971, p. 7; fig. 31, p. 43, illustrated (titled Parisian Novels)
Jan Hulsker, Van Gogh door van Gogh. De brieven als commentaar op zijn werk, Amsterdam, 1973
Donald E. Gordon, Modern Art Exhibitions 1900-1916, Munich, 1974, vol. I, pp. 158 and 303, illustrated; vol. II, pp. 233, 244, 493 and 828
Pablo Lecaldano, L’Opera pittorica completa di van Gogh, vol. I, Milan, 1977, no. 447, p. 118, illustrated; pl. LX, illustrated in color (titled Natura morta (libri, bicchiere con rose))
Jan Hulsker, The Complete van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York, 1980, no. 1332, p. 295; p. 300, illustrated (titled Piles of French Novels and a Glass with a Rose (Romans Parisiens) and dated October-December 1887)
Exh. Cat., Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario and Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, 1981, fig. 18, p. 33, illustrated; pp. 116-18 (titled Still Life: Parisian Novels with a Rose)
Evert van Uitert, “Van Gogh’s Concept of His Oeuvre,” Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, vol. XII, no. 4, 1981-82, fig. 2, p. 227, illustrated (titled Romans Parisiens)
Evert van Uitert, “Vincent van Gogh in Creative Competition,” Simiolus, 1983, p. 74f, illustrated
Susan Alyson Stein, ed., Van Gogh, A Retrospective, New York, 1986, pp. 82, 156, 176 and 284; p. 118, pl. 38, illustrated in color (titled Romans Parisiens)
Walter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cassirer, Berlin, The Reception of van Gogh in Germany from 1901-1914, Amsterdam, 1988, no. F359, p. 90 (titled Still life: romans Parisiens with a rose)
Jean Monneret, Vincent van Gogh au Salon des Independants en 1888 - 1889 - 1890 et 1891, Paris, 1990, pp. 58 and 60; p. 59, illustrated in color (titled Romans parisiens)
Giovanni Testori and Luisa Arrigoni, Van Gogh, Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence, 1990, no. 444, p. 195, illustrated in color (titled Natura morta: Romans parisiens)
Ingo F. Walther and Rainer Metzger, Vincent van Gogh, The Complete Paintings, vol. I, Cologne, 1990, p. 270, illustrated in color (titled Still Life with French Novels and a Rose)
Exh. Cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh en de moderne kunst, 1990-91, fig. 7, p. 72, illustrated (titled Romans parisiens, Stilleven met boeken and dated 1887-88)
Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh, Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 1996, no. 1332, p. 300, illustrated (titled Piles of French Novels and a Glass with a Rose (Romans Parisiens))
Kuntschrift, vol. 46, no. 3, May-June 2002, no. 64, p. 45, illustrated in color
Isabel Kuhl, I, Van Gogh, Munich, 2005, p. 129, illustrated in color (titled Piles of French Novels and a Glass with a Rose)
Belinda Thomson, Van Gogh Paintings, The Masterpieces, London, 2007, pl. 46, p. 55, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., Kunstmuseum, Basel, Vincent van Gogh, Between Earth and Heaven, The Landscapes, 2009, fig. 22, p. 50, illustrated in color; p. 52
Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent van Gogh, The Letters, The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, London, 2009, pp. 38, 75 and 334, illustrated in color
Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Van Gogh, The Life, New York, 2011, p. 554
Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh, Vincent van Gogh Paintings, Antwerp & Paris, 1885-1888, vol. 2, London, 2011, pp. 502-08; pp. 84 and 505, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., London, Eykyn Maclean, Van Gogh in Paris, 2013, fig. 24, p. 37, illustrated in color (titled Piles of French Novels and Roses in a Glass and dated 1887-88)
Walter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh, The Years in France, Complete Paintings 1886-1890, London, 2013, p. 67, illustrated in color (titled Parisian Novels with a Rose and dated winter 1887-88)
Bernhard Echte and Walter Feilchenfeldt, Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Die Ausstellungen 1912-1914, Wädenswil, 2016, no. 98, p. 749, illustrated in color; p. 771 (titled Die Bücher and dated 1887-88)
Maite van Dijk, Foreign Artists versus French Critics: Exhibition Strategies and Critical Reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, Dissertation, University of Amsterdam, 2017, fig. 51, p. 133, illustrated in color; pp. 141-43 (titled Romans parisiens)
Stefan Koldehoff and Chris Stolwijk, eds., The Thannhauser Gallery, Marketing Van Gogh, Brussels, 2017, fig. 40, p. 59, illustrated in color (tiled Piles of French Novels and Roses in a Glass and dated 1887-88)
Ingo F. Walther and Rainer Metzger, Vincent van Gogh, The Complete Paintings, vol. 1, Cologne, 2019, p. 270, illustrated in color (titled Still Life with French Novels and a Rose)
Exh. Cat., Frankfurt, Städel Museum, Making Van Gogh: A German Love Story, 2019-20, fig. 2, p. 21, illustrated in color; p. 22 (titled Still Life with French Novels and a Rose)
Exh. Cat., Potsdam, Museum Barberini, Van Gogh: Still Lifes, 2019-20, pp. 23 and 253, illustrated in color (titled French Novels with a Rose)
Mariella Guzzoni, Vincent’s Books: Van Gogh and the Writers Who Inspired Him, Chicago, 2020, pp. 108, 114 and 117; p. 112, illustrated in color (titled French Novels with Roses and a Glass (‘Romans parisiens’))
Exh. Cat., Kunstmuseum Basel and Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism, 2021-22, fig. 8, p. 133, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., London, The National Gallery, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers, 2024-25, fig. 84, p. 117, illustrated in color; pp. 119-20 (titled Parisian Novels)
Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens) is one of the most important still lifes that Vincent van Gogh ever painted and the largest in scale to come to auction since the late 1980s. It was painted towards the end of van Gogh’s time in Paris in the final months of 1887. One of only four still lifes featuring books that the artist executed during the course of his two years in the French capital, this work is further distinguished by its exceptional exhibition history and unique combination of visual motifs as well as the tour de force application of medium. The present work is one of the artist’s most accomplished from this period.
FIG. 1 LETTER FROM VINCENT VAN GOGH TO THEO VAN GOGH, ANNOUNCING VINCENT'S ARRIVAL TO PARIS. 28 FEBRUARY 1886 (LETTER NO. 567)
During his two-year stay in Paris from 1886 to 1888, van Gogh was introduced to the latest developments in the visual arts and to several of the most innovative painters working in Paris at the time, including Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Émile Bernard. With the encouragement and company of his brother, van Gogh frequented the many cafés and taverns where he exchanged both ideas and canvases with this new circle. The city also offered him several opportunities to view the critically acclaimed works of the Impressionists, whose paintings were most notably featured at their eighth and final group exhibition in 1886, though he remained, aside from select works by Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, unconvinced in their overall artistic program. Van Gogh rapidly absorbed the disparate artistic styles and techniques pioneered by the Parisian avant-garde and quickly formulated his own highly distinctive pictorial language. The shock and admiration of these once unfamiliar artists and their varied practices had a dramatic impact on van Gogh. Surrounded by artists, dancers, musicians, actors and writers in Montmartre, van Gogh abandoned the dark palette that dominated many of his early paintings in Holland and replaced it with a newfound love of color.
FIG. 2 VINCENT VAN GOGH, STILL LIFE WITH BIBLE, OCTOBER 1885, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
Before his move to France and his pivot to radically brighter tones, van Gogh first painted books as a subject in October of 1885 in his Still Life with Bible (see fig. 2). Here the artist directly juxtaposes a large bible that had belonged to his recently-deceased father with a relatively smaller-scale contemporary French novel, Émile Zola’s La Joie de vivre. The yellow color of the cover of Zola’s novel was shared by many works of fiction in Paris at this time. The phrase “Les Livres jaunes” specifically denotes these volumes as modern French paperbacks; the realist authors that van Gogh so admired would primarily have been published in this format. In Still Life with Bible the bible can be seen as representing the artist’s father (a preacher who his son thought was stuck in the past) and the paperback as representing van Gogh himself, who was a passionate reader of Realist literature.
FIG. 4 VINCENT VAN GOGH, STILL LIFE WITH A PLATE OF ONIONS, 1889, KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM, OTTERLO
In two other still lifes that feature books, a symbolic connection between the composition and an absent person (or persons) are evident. Nature morte avec planche à dessin et oignons (see fig. 4) serves as both a self portrait of van Gogh and a reminder of his brother Theo: the Annuaire a reference to van Gogh’s delicate health at this time and the letter addressed to him by his brother showing the importance of their correspondence and of the written word.
FIG. 5 VINCENT VAN GOGH, LA CHAISE DE VINCENT AVEC SA PIPE, LATE 1888, NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
FIG. 6 VINCENT VAN GOGH, LE FAUTEUIL DE PAUL GAUGUIN, NOVEMBER 1888, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
Le Fauteuil de Paul Gauguin of 1888 again uses books and a candle as a stand-in for the painting’s subject, the artist Paul Gauguin (see fig. 6). Its pendant, La Chaise de Vincent avec sa pipe depicts a less ornate seat supporting a pipe and pouch of tobacco, while in the background a box of onions bears the artist's signature. Here portrait and self-portrait are conveyed as still life (see fig. 5).
FIG. 7 VINCENT VAN GOGH, NATURE MORTE À LA STATUETTE DE PLÂTRE ET AUX DEUX ROMANS, LATE 1887, KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM, OTTERLO
FIG. 8 VINCENT VAN GOGH, LES LAURIERS-ROSES, 1888, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK
FIG. 9 VINCENT VAN GOGH, BRANCHE D'AMANDIER EN FLEURS DANS UN VERRE AVEC UN LIVRE, 1888, PRIVATE COLLECTION
Of the nearly nine hundred oils that van Gogh painted throughout his career, only nine prominently feature books. Aside from the works already described above, Piles de romans parisiens, Trois romans and Nature morte à la statuette de plâtre et aux deux romans date to van Gogh's time in Paris, while Branche d’amandier en fleurs dans un verre were painted in Arles in 1888 (see figs. 7-9).
FIG. 10 VINCENT VAN GOGH, PILES DES ROMANS PARISIENS, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1887, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
The most directly related of these Parisian canvases, Piles des romans parisiens was a preparatory study for the present work (see fig. 10). It similarly places an open book towards the lower center of the canvas, a seeming invitation to the viewer as reader. “Reading was extremely important to van Gogh, as is evident from the frequent references in his letters to contemporary literature. He particularly admired the French naturalists, such as Emile Zola and the De Goncourt brothers: ‘if one wants truth, life as it is, De Goncourt, for example, in Germinie Lacerteux, La fille Elisa, Zola in La Joie de vivre and L’Assomoir and so many other masterpieces paint life as we feel it ourselves and thus satisfy that need which we have, that people tell us the truth’” (Exh. Cat., London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, 2010, p. 226) (see fig. 12).
FIG. 11 EDGAR DEGAS, PORTRAIT DE LOUIS EDMOND DURANTY, 1879, BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW
In the van Gogh Museum’s analysis of the preparatory painting, which forms a part of their permanent collection, they have written on the subject of the viewer-as-reader “Although there is no figure in either version of Romans parisiens, they must nevertheless be seen as an attempt to depict a reader. Van Gogh adopted the indirect approach. In the first painting it is the viewer who is actually the reader, for in the foreground there is an open book. He moved it a little further away in the second picture [the present work], severing that connection, but he once again communicated the idea of the presence of a passionate reader of novels by showing the living room and the back of a chair, which makes it clear that we are seeing the reader’s home. Van Gogh may have got his idea for the full reading table from Degas’s imposing Portrait de Louis Edmond Duranty of 1878-79, in which the critic is seen in his study at his desk piled high with books, paperwork and prints in front of the shelves of his large library (see fig. 11).
LEFT: FIG. 12, ÉDOUARD MANET, PORTRAIT D’ÉMILE ZOLA, 1868, MUSÉE D’ORSAY, PARIS
RIGHT: FIG. 13 PAUL CÉZANNE, PORTRAIT DE GUSTAVE GEFFROY, 1895, MUSÉE D’ORSAY, PARIS
The surroundings identify Duranty as the man of letters pur sang, and van Gogh will have concluded that he had no need to portray a reader, leaving books to convey that impression, just as the drinker is suggested by the full glass in Café table with absinthe" (Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh, Vincent van Gogh Paintings, Volume 2, Antwerp & Paris, 1885-1888, London, 2011, pp. 508-09). Some seven years later, Paul Cézanne would capture the journalist and critic Gustave Geffroy in a similar setting. Under close scrutiny, the shelf set directly behind Geffroy's chair contains a shelf of contemporary French novels in their characteristic yellow covers (see fig. 13).
In examining the similarities and differences between the present work and the study Piles of French Novels, which forms part of their permanent collection, Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh focus not only on the size of the canvas and the cropping of the scene but also on the handling of the paint, inclusion of suggestions of text on the covers and interiors of the volume, details of the wall hanging, specificity of setting and—perhaps symbolically the most important difference—the inclusion of flowers. In the preparatory oil, color and execution are handled in a more monochromatic and flattened manner, which seems to be a nod to the influence of Japanese prints on van Gogh’s work at the time. “The first version was an attempt to make an oil painting in the style of a Japanese print. The composition is conceived in terms of discrete blocks… van Gogh combined them with a painterly touch…. In the final months of his stay in Paris he largely reverted to the… the Neo-Impressionist style, which is well illustrated by the second version of his pile of novels [the present work]. In it he opted for a systematic pattern of small dashes and loose strokes supplemented with hatchings, comparable to those in Portrait of Etienne-Lucien Martin and Self-Portrait as a Painter” (ibid., pp. 506-07) (see fig. 15).
FIG. 15 VINCENT VAN GOGH, AUTOPORTRAIT DE L'ARTISTE, DECEMBER 1887-FEBRUARY 1888, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
Instead of the relatively flat and unmodulated hints of background in the museum’s version of this subject, Romans parisiens has a fully developed and highly patterned wall decoration. The same patterning is found in the background of two other still lifes from the first months of 1887, Nature morte avec carafe et citrons sur une assiette (see fig. 6) and Pot de fleurs à la ciboulette. In each of these preceding works the patterning is presented as a vertical stripe whereas in Romans parisiens it is positioned horizontally that van Gogh then marked with vertical crosshatchings in reds, yellows, whites, and various green tonalities. The effect is dislocating and pushes the novels positioned at the back of the tilted table top to the foreground; the yellow covers at back left moving towards the viewer while the open book with what appears to be a red cover, technically positioned closer to the viewer, seems to move back in space.
FIG. 16 VINCENT VAN GOGH, 7, NATURE MORTE AVEC CARAFE ET CITRONS SUR UNE ASSIETTE, FEBRUARY-MARCH 1887, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
The similarity in background decoration in this work and the two earlier canvases speaks to the fact that van Gogh and Theo’s apartment would have had a certain number of objects which would be used in multiple compositions, including vases, baskets, books and shoes. This is perhaps most famously the case with the white and yellow vase in which van Gogh posed many of his Arles-period Sunflowers in 1888 and 1889 (see fig. 17). Other artists particularly famous for their still life and interior compositions such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Giorgio Morandi would similarly reuse objects, furnishings, drapery and costumes in their compositions.
FIG. 17 VINCENT VAN GOGH, LES TOURNESOLS, 1888, NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
FIG. 18 VINCENT VAN GOGH, L'ARLÉSIENNE: MADAME JOSEPH-MICHEL GINOUX, 1888-89, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK
As in his Sunflower compositions, van Gogh conceived the present work on a large scale—indeed it is one of the largest sized canvases that the artist used for a still life until his move to Arles in February of 1888 and embarked on his Sunflowers. “The painter’s life-long love of literature,” writes Sjraar van Heugten, “found its way into his modern work too, as in French Novels with a Rose [the present work], where it symbolizes the current era as depicted in contemporary novels but also the moments of consolation and beauty that readers found in books. Like the large painting with the four sunflowers, this substantial 73-by-93-centimeter canvas attests to the importance van Gogh afforded the still life genre within his oeuvre. Theo too must have recognized the special character of this work; in March 1888, by which time van Gogh was in Arles, Theo submitted it along with two large views of Montmartre as his brother’s contribution to the Salon des Indépendents—an initiative of which the artist “wholeheartedly approved” (Exh. Cat., Potsdam, Museum Barberini, Van Gogh: Still Lifes, 2019-20, p. 21).
FIG. 19 EXHIBITION CATALOGUE FOR THE 1888 SALON DES INDÉPENDANTS
Indeed, of the three works van Gogh exhibited at the 1888 Salon des Artistes Indépendants (numbers 658-660) the present work was listed first below his name; the painter’s address still showing the rue Lepic apartment that he had shared with his brother Theo. On the tenth of March, 1888 van Gogh wrote to Theo “Je trouve très-bien que tu mettes les livres aussi aux Indépendants. faudra donner comme titre de cette étude: “Romans parisiens” (I think it’s a very good idea that you put the books in the Independents’ too. This study should be given the title: ‘Parisian novels’ (See fig. 13) (Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker, Vincent van Gogh, The Letters, The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, vol. IV, London, 2009, p. 25).
FIG. 20 VINCENT VAN GOGH, JARDINS POTAGERS À MONTMARTRE : LA BUTTE MONTMARTRE, 1887,
STEDELIJK MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
THE PRESENT WORK
FIG. 21 VINCENT VAN GOGH, JARDINS POTAGERS À MONTMARTRE : LA BUTTE MONTMARTRE, JULY 1887, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
The other two works included in the 1888 exhibition were sweeping vistas of the less developed portions of Montmartre (see figs. 20 and 21). All three works shared the impressive, energetic brushwork of van Gogh’s last year in Paris. Writing about the energy and varied applications of paint in these 1887 canvases, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith describe:
“The paintings… were filled with the fashionable shorthand of dashes and dots. He tried them in every size and shape: from bricklike rectangles to comma-like curls to bits of color no bigger than flies. He arranged them in neat parallel ranks, in interlocking basketweaves, and in elaborate, changing patterns. Sometimes they followed the contours of the landscape; sometimes they radiated outward; sometimes they all swept across the canvas in the same direction, as if blown by an unseen wind. He applied them in tight, overlapping thickets; in complex confederations of color; and in loose, latticelike skeins that revealed the underlayers of paint or ground. His dots clotted and clustered, filled large areas with perfect regularity or exploded in erratic swarms”
STEVEN NAIFEH AND GREGORY WHITE SMITH, VAN GOGH, THE LIFE, NEW YORK, 2011, P. 531
While the 1888 exhibition would be the first for Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) it was by no means the last. Throughout the twentieth century, the present work has been included in some of the most important exhibitions and venues across Europe and North America. From the Galerie Bernheim Jeune, to Cassirer to Commeter, the Kunsthaus Zürich and Kunsthalle Basel, Galerie Matthiesen, the Orangerie des Tuileries, Musée d’Orsay, Van Gogh Museum, Art Institute of Chicago and Royal Academy of Arts, this canvas has represented the best of van Gogh’s Parisian work throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century. In the 2010 exhibition for the Royal Academy of Arts, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, the attention of the artist himself to a similar feeling and quality between Romans parisiens and his famed Bedroom paintings was expressed directly to Theo writing on 17 October 1888 “.... this Bedroom is something like that still life of French novels with yellow, pink, green covers, you’ll recall” (Exh. Cat. London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, 2010, no. 123, p. 226) (see fig. 22).
“.... this Bedroom is something like that still life of French novels with yellow, pink, green covers, you’ll recall”
- VINCENT VAN GOGH TO THEO VAN GOGH, REFERRING TO THE PRESENT WORK, 7 OCTOBER 1888, LETTER NO. 707
FIG. 22 VINCENT VAN GOGH, LA CHAMBRE À ARLES, OCTOBER 1888, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
It is here in his words to Theo, and in his letter announcing his abrupt arrival in Paris and, again, in the countless lines he penned, sketches he made, canvases he paints, that van Gogh reveals himself. It is not just his self-portraits, which in the absence of photographs provide us with a glimpse of his physical likeness, but in his still lifes and interior scenes that we see—clearly conveyed in the Royal Academy's exhibition title—the "Real Van Gogh." His bedroom in Arles, his chair with a pipe, his piles of novels—these are also his self portraits, his aspects and attributes, his inner self. He represents others similarly Gauguin by his Chair, Theo by a letter, his father depicted by a worn bible, he shows he did not look just at surfaces, just at covers, but at interiors, at contents, at the meaning behind the image, behind the word. It is this depth of sight that he conveys in his paintings, that he conveys in Romans parisiens.
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