In fall and winter 1889–90, while a voluntary patient at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh painted twenty-one copies after Millet, an artist he greatly admired. He considered his copies “translations” akin to a musician’s interpretation of a composer’s work. He let the black-and-white images — whether prints, reproductions, or, as here, a photograph that his brother, Theo, had sent — pose “as a subject” then he would “improvise color on it”. For this work of January 1890, Van Gogh squared-up a photograph of Millet’s ‘First Steps’ and transferred it to the canvas.
Artwork Details
Title: ‘First Steps, after Millet’
Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
Date: 1890
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 28 1/2 × 35 7/8 in. (72.4 × 91.1 cm)
Source: Collection of The Met