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Vincent van Gogh, 'Long Grass with Butterflies', 1890
About the work
Overview
Van Gogh painted this patch of meadow when he was a patient at the psychiatric hospital at Saint-Paul de Mausole, near the village of St-Rémy in the south of France. While at the hospital he made a number of sketches and paintings that look down at small areas of meadow or undergrowth.
Although there is no horizon or sky, the path near the top of the picture creates an effect of depth. In contrast to the boundary formed by the path, the remaining space is open and potentially extends beyond the sides and bottom of the canvas. The grass is painted with distinct brushstrokes of varying length, laid down in clusters like the clumps they describe.
Van Gogh’s interest in depicting nature in detail may have been encouraged by what he had read about Japanese culture, and his belief that ‘the wise Japanese man...studies a single blade of grass’. But there were also important precedents in Renaissance art and in seventeenth-century Dutch painting.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Long Grass with Butterflies
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh
- Artist dates
- 1853 - 1890
- Date made
- 1890
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 64.5 × 80.7 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1926
- Inventory number
- NG4169
- Location
- Room 43
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 19th-century French Frame
Provenance
Mrs. J. Van Gogh‐Bonger, Amsterdam (the artist’s sister-in-law) until about 1924. Then successively with Rosenberg (Paris) and French Gallery (London). Bought from the latter, 1926 by the Trustees of the Courtauld Fund. Transferred from the Tate, 1961.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2009Vincent van Gogh: Between Earth and Heaven: The LandscapesKunstmuseum Basel26 April 2009 - 27 September 2009
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2012Van Gogh: Up ClosePhiladelphia Museum of Art1 February 2012 - 6 May 2012National Gallery of Canada25 May 2012 - 3 September 2012
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2023Masterpieces from the National GalleryShanghai Art Museum East17 January 2023 - 7 May 2023National Museum of Korea2 June 2023 - 9 October 2023Hong Kong Palace Museum22 November 2023 - 11 April 2024Chimei Museum2 May 2024 - 1 September 2024
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2024Van Gogh: Poets and LoversThe National Gallery (London)14 September 2024 - 19 January 2025
Bibliography
-
1928J.B. de la Faille, L'oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Paris 1928
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1937W. Scherjon and J. de Gruyter, Vincent Van Gogh's Great Period, Arles, St Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise, Amsterdam 1937
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1954D. Cooper, The Courtauld Collection: A Catalogue and Introduction, London 1954
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1958The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, London 1958
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1959R. Alley, Tate Gallery Catalogues: The Foreign Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1959
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1970Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
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1970J.B. de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings, Amsterdam 1970
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1986R. Pickvance, Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25 November 1986 - 22 March 1987), New York 1986
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1993I.F. Walther and R. Metzger, Vincent Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings, Cologne 1993
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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