Stairway at Auvers
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch, 1853–1890
- Date
- July 1890
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Auvers-sur-Oise, Île-de-France region, France, Europe
- depicts
- Auvers-sur-Oise, Île-de-France region, France, Europe
- Classification
- Paintings
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 19 11/16 × 27 3/4 in. (50 × 70.5 cm)
framed: 27 7/8 in. × 35 15/16 in. × 5 in. (70.8 × 91.3 × 12.7 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Contact Us
- Object Number
- 1:1935
NOTES
The expressive, swirling lines of the foreground road move backward to the center of the composition and join the base of a stairway on which an elderly man with a stick descends. Chestnut trees are in flower to the right and left, while two pair of women walk along the road. Vincent van Gogh’s work is of a compact, almost claustrophobic density and the sky is barely seen. In one of his final letters, Van Gogh described Auvers as “of a grave beauty, the real countryside, characteristic and picturesque.”
Provenance
1890 - 1909/1910
Theodorus (Theo) van Gogh (1857-1891), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, by inheritance from the artist; Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (1871-1926), Amsterdam, The Netherlands [1]
1909/1910 -
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, France, purchased from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger [2]
by 1913 - still in 1931
Herbert Charles Coleman (c.1882-1949), Manchester, England; later London, England, purchased from Galerie Bernheim-Jeune [3]
- 1934
Paul Rosenberg (1881-1959), Paris, France [4]
1934/11/02 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Paul Rosenberg [5]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is de la Faille's catalogue raisonné, the 1970 revised edition, cat. no. 795 [Faille, J.-B. de la. "The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings." Amsterdam, Meulenhoff International, 1970]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Johanna (Jo) van Gogh-Bonger inherited this picture from her husband, Theo van Gogh, upon his death on January 25, 1891. Theo van Gogh had inherited the picture from his brother, the artist Vincent van Gogh, in 1890. According to de la Faille, the picture was still with Jo van Gogh-Bonger in 1896 when it was exhibited in Rotterdam at the Kunstzalen Oldenzeel. The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger confirms that Galerie Bernheim-Jeune purchased the painting from Jo van Gogh-Bonger in November 1909 [Stolwijk, Chris, and Han Veenenbos. "The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger." Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2002, p. 191].
[2] See note [1]. According to research supplied by the organizers of the exhibition "Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors," Galerie Bernheim-Jeune owned the painting in 1909, after which time it was acquired by Coleman [letter from Michael Clarke and Richard Gray dated April 4, 2003, SLAM document files; Bailey, Martin. "Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors." Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 2006, p. 122].
[3] See note [2]. Herbert Charles Coleman, a German Jew who formed an important collection of modern art, changed the spelling of his last name from Kullmann in 1916 [Fry, Roger Eliot. "Letters of Roger Fry." London: Chatto and Windus, Ltd., 1972, vol. 2, p. 518, 729]. The painting is recorded in Coleman's collection by June 1913, when he lent it to an exhibition at the Leeds Arts Club; he purchased the painting from Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, and may have acquired it from them as early as 1910 [Korn, Madeleine. "Collecting Paintings by Van Gogh in Britain before the Second World War," Van Gogh Museum Journal (2002), p. 128-129, 136]. On May 16, 1914, the painting was included in a sale of Coleman's collection at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, but it was not sold ["Collection de M. Herbert Kullmann (de Manchester)." Paris: 1914, lot 6]. The painting was also included in a 1914 exhibition, as lent by M. Kullmann ["Art Français: Exposition d'Art décoratif comtemporain, 1800-1885" London: Grosvenor House, 1914, no. 88]. According to de la Faille, the painting was documented in the Coleman collection in additional 1914 and 1926 exhibitions. We were not able, however, to confirm this with the exhibition catalogs ["Vincent van Gogh, 30. März 1853-29. Juli 1890: zehnte Ausstellung, Mai-Juni 1914." Berlin: P. Cassirer, 1914, cat no. 133; "List of Picture Loans at the Opening Exhibition of the Modern Foreign Gallery." London: National Gallery, 1926]. In 1922, the painting was recorded as hanging over the mantelpiece in Coleman's home [Diary of Michael Sadler, October 11, 1922, Tate Archives, ref. 8221.5.38]. The work was also published in an article about Coleman's collection in 1931 [Colson, Percy. "Some Notes on Mr. Herbert Coleman's Collection." "Apollo" Vol. 13, No. 76 (April, 1931): 215-218].
[4] The work was exhibited as lent by Paul Rosenberg at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1934 ["Wadsworth Atheneum: Loans in Honor of the Opening of the Avery Memorial." Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1934].
[5] Per invoice dated November 2, 1934 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 3, 1935.
Theodorus (Theo) van Gogh (1857-1891), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, by inheritance from the artist; Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (1871-1926), Amsterdam, The Netherlands [1]
1909/1910 -
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, France, purchased from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger [2]
by 1913 - still in 1931
Herbert Charles Coleman (c.1882-1949), Manchester, England; later London, England, purchased from Galerie Bernheim-Jeune [3]
- 1934
Paul Rosenberg (1881-1959), Paris, France [4]
1934/11/02 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Paul Rosenberg [5]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is de la Faille's catalogue raisonné, the 1970 revised edition, cat. no. 795 [Faille, J.-B. de la. "The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings." Amsterdam, Meulenhoff International, 1970]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Johanna (Jo) van Gogh-Bonger inherited this picture from her husband, Theo van Gogh, upon his death on January 25, 1891. Theo van Gogh had inherited the picture from his brother, the artist Vincent van Gogh, in 1890. According to de la Faille, the picture was still with Jo van Gogh-Bonger in 1896 when it was exhibited in Rotterdam at the Kunstzalen Oldenzeel. The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger confirms that Galerie Bernheim-Jeune purchased the painting from Jo van Gogh-Bonger in November 1909 [Stolwijk, Chris, and Han Veenenbos. "The account book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger." Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2002, p. 191].
[2] See note [1]. According to research supplied by the organizers of the exhibition "Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors," Galerie Bernheim-Jeune owned the painting in 1909, after which time it was acquired by Coleman [letter from Michael Clarke and Richard Gray dated April 4, 2003, SLAM document files; Bailey, Martin. "Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors." Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 2006, p. 122].
[3] See note [2]. Herbert Charles Coleman, a German Jew who formed an important collection of modern art, changed the spelling of his last name from Kullmann in 1916 [Fry, Roger Eliot. "Letters of Roger Fry." London: Chatto and Windus, Ltd., 1972, vol. 2, p. 518, 729]. The painting is recorded in Coleman's collection by June 1913, when he lent it to an exhibition at the Leeds Arts Club; he purchased the painting from Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, and may have acquired it from them as early as 1910 [Korn, Madeleine. "Collecting Paintings by Van Gogh in Britain before the Second World War," Van Gogh Museum Journal (2002), p. 128-129, 136]. On May 16, 1914, the painting was included in a sale of Coleman's collection at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, but it was not sold ["Collection de M. Herbert Kullmann (de Manchester)." Paris: 1914, lot 6]. The painting was also included in a 1914 exhibition, as lent by M. Kullmann ["Art Français: Exposition d'Art décoratif comtemporain, 1800-1885" London: Grosvenor House, 1914, no. 88]. According to de la Faille, the painting was documented in the Coleman collection in additional 1914 and 1926 exhibitions. We were not able, however, to confirm this with the exhibition catalogs ["Vincent van Gogh, 30. März 1853-29. Juli 1890: zehnte Ausstellung, Mai-Juni 1914." Berlin: P. Cassirer, 1914, cat no. 133; "List of Picture Loans at the Opening Exhibition of the Modern Foreign Gallery." London: National Gallery, 1926]. In 1922, the painting was recorded as hanging over the mantelpiece in Coleman's home [Diary of Michael Sadler, October 11, 1922, Tate Archives, ref. 8221.5.38]. The work was also published in an article about Coleman's collection in 1931 [Colson, Percy. "Some Notes on Mr. Herbert Coleman's Collection." "Apollo" Vol. 13, No. 76 (April, 1931): 215-218].
[4] The work was exhibited as lent by Paul Rosenberg at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1934 ["Wadsworth Atheneum: Loans in Honor of the Opening of the Avery Memorial." Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1934].
[5] Per invoice dated November 2, 1934 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 3, 1935.