Selected van Gogh Paintings Referenced in the Novel
All paintings and drawings described or mentioned in the novel exist except Vincent’s three sketches and half-finished painting of Rachel. This list presents some of the mentioned paintings by van Gogh, which amount to a fraction of his actual output. Their historical dates are consistent with the time frame given in the novel, with a few minor exceptions where I moved something a few days up or few days back. The order in which the various versions of
La Berceuse
were painted is debated; I follow the chronology developed by Kristin Hoermann Lister (see Further Reading), although I do not mention the fifth version, painted in late March 1889 (now in the Kröller-Müller Museum).
The historical Rachel may appear in
The Brothel
—the girl to the left in the yellow dress—although this is unconfirmed. Van Gogh intended to paint a brothel picture based on
The Brothel
oil sketch, but it remains unknown why he did not. The painting that Vincent gives Rachel in the novel is
Poet’s Garden II
. Although the historical Vincent provided Theo a letter sketch of this painting, it was never sent to Paris, and its whereabouts have been unknown ever since. Van Gogh gave some of his paintings to friends as gifts, and likely he did the same with
Poet’s Garden II
. We just don’t know to whom.
Chapter 2
Portrait of Joseph Roulin | July 1888 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
La Mousmé | July 1888 | National Gallery of Art, Washington |
Chapter 3
Night Café in the Place Lamartine | Sept 1888 | Yale Univ. Art Gallery |
Chapter 4
Public Garden of the Place Lamartine (Poet’s Garden I) | Sept 1888 | Art Institute of Chicago |
Portrait of Patience Escalier | Aug 1888 | Private Collection |
Coal Barges | Aug 1888 | Private Collection |
Self-Portrait as Japanese Bonze | Sept 1888 | Harvard Univ. Art Museums |
Café Terrace at Night | Sept 1888 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo |
Sunflowers | Aug 1888 | National Gallery, London |
Chapter 6
Starry Night over the Rhône | Sept 1888 | Musée d’Orsay, Paris |
Chapter 7
The Yellow House | Sept 1888 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
The Green Vineyard | Sept 1888 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo |
Sunflowers | Aug 1888 | Neue Pina-Munich |
Public Garden with Round Bush (Poet’s Garden II) | Sept 1888 | Whereabouts unknown since 1888 |
Public Garden with Couple and Fir Tree (Poet’s Garden III) | Sept 1888 | Private Collection |
The Lovers (Poet’s Garden IV) | Sept 1888 | Whereabouts unknown |
Chapter 8
Les Alyscamps | Oct 1888 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo |
Chapter 9
The Brothel | Oct 1888 | Barnes Foundation, Pennsylvania |
Nude Woman Reclining (Agostina Segatori?) | early 1887 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo |
Chapter 16
The Sower | Nov 1888 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
The Sower | Nov 1888 | Bürhle Foundation, Zurich |
Portrait of Madame Ginoux | Nov 1888 | Musée d’Orsay, Paris |
The Red Vineyard | Nov 1888 | Pushkin Museum, Moscow |
Portrait of Joseph Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Kunstmuseum Winterthur |
Portrait of Camille Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Museu de Arte de São Paulo |
Portrait of Camille Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Philadelphia Museum of Art |
Portrait of Camille Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Portrait of Armand Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Museum Boymans-van Bruningen, |
Portrait of Armand Roulin | Nov/Dec 1888 | Museum Folkwang, Essen |
Madame Roulin with Baby | Dec 1888 | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
La Berceuse (Madame Roulin) | Dec 1888/ Jan 1889 | Boston, Museum of Fine Arts |
Still Life: Pipe, Onions, and Sealing Wax | Jan 1889 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo |
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear | Jan 1889 | Private Collection |
Chapter 17
Portrait of Dr. Félix Rey | Jan 1889 | Pushkin Museum, Moscow |
Chapter 19
Sunflowers | Jan 1889 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Chapter 20
La Berceuse (Madame Roulin) | Jan 1889 | Art Institute of Chicago |
La Berceuse (Madame Roulin) | Jan/Feb 1889 | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Chapter 22
La Berceuse (Madame Roulin) | Feb/March 1889 | Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum |
Sunflowers | late Jan 1889 | Philadelphia Museum of Art |
Chapter 24
Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles | April 1889 | Collection Oskar Reinhart |
Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles | Sept 1888 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Chapter 27
Red Chestnuts in the Public Park | April 1889 | Private Collection |
Chapter 29
Irises | May 1889 | J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
Starry Night | June 1889 | Museum of Modern Art, New York |
Portrait of Charles Trabuc | Sept 1889 | Kunstmuseum Solothurn |
Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles | Sept 1889 | Musée d’Orsay, Paris |
Chapter 30
Night (La Veillée), after Millet | Oct 1889 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Chapter 32
Pietà (after Delacroix) | Sept 1889 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Thatched Cottages in the Sunshine (Reminiscences of the North) | March 1890 | Barnes Foundation, Pennsylvania |
Still Life with Irises against a Yellow Background | late April/ early May 1890 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt) | May 1890 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Chapter 34
Church at Auvers | June 1890 | Musée d’Orsay, Paris |
Mademoiselle Gachet (?) in the | June 1890 | Museé |
Garden | d’Orsay, Paris | |
Portrait of Doctor Gachet | June 1890 | Private Collection |
Undergrowth with Two Figures | June 1890 | Cincinnati Art Museum |
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux | June 1890 | Cleveland Museum of Art |
Marguerite Gachet at Her Piano | June 1890 | Kunstmuseum Basel |
Auvers Town Hall on Bastille Day | July 1890 | Private Collection |
Chapter 36
Harvest at La Crau (The Blue Cart) | June 1888 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Almond Tree in Blossom | Feb/April 1890 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
The Potato Eaters | April 1885 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Woman in a Café (Agostina Segatori) | early 1887 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |
Wheatfield with Cypresses | Sept 1889 | National Gallery, London |
Landscape with Couple Walking under a Crescent Moon | May 1890? | Museu de Arte de São Paulo |
Crows Over a Wheatfield | July 1890 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam |