Identifying Chairs and their Sitters in the Works of Vincent van Gogh

Identifying Chairs and their Sitters in the Works of Vincent van Gogh Kathleen Tousignant Art History 760 Spring 2014 From the chair that they occupy, we can often tell a person’s social rank. From its materials and style, we can guess its purpose. By viewing chairs in interior spaces, especially in the works of van Gogh, we find that they often reflect the activities of domestic life: reading, writing, eating, drinking, conversation, and relaxation. When determining whether its purpose is decorative or utilitarian, ergonomics must be considered. While the notion of “comfort” is usually inherent in a chair’s intended use, it is important to understand that a chair’s “comfort” is not synonymous with its “support”. We can make this distinction by viewing van Gogh’s depictions of peasants in their homes – in Etten, The Hague, and Nuenen. For the purposes of this paper, I will classify these peasant chairs as “task chairs”. I will also address the aesthetic and psychological effects that a chairs placement, occupancy, and environment can convey in the works of van Gogh. In his article, The Seat of the Soul: Three Chairs, Arthur C. Danto provides a brief historical context of the symbolic use of chairs, both in and outside of art. Intellectual and authoritative positions that are held in high accord are often referred to in this way (i.e. “regal throne”, “academic chair”, “congressional seat”). Danto explains that this is because “the seated position implies stability, solidity, the unmoved center around which the remainder of the universe orbits”1. Therefore, an individual that stays seated while someone else stands places the sitter in a superior position. Likewise, one who continues to stand while someone else remains seated shows that they oblige to the sitter’s superior authority. Danto explains that the chair “has a locus in the language of authority as a 1 Danto, Arthur C.. "The Seat of the Soul: Three Chairs." Grand Street 6, no. 4 (1987): 159. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25007019 (accessed April 24, 2014). mark and perquisite of power”2. By analyzing van Gogh’s use of chairs, it is possible to identify the social classes of his figures both as they were recognized by society, as well as how they related to the artist and the social rank that he assigned to himself. In 17th century Dutch society, working men and women were considered a supreme example of virtue. There was a great moralizing character found in 17th century Dutch genre painting, which often depicted domestic life, hard work, and manual labor. Interest in portraying peasant workers continued into the 19th century and can be found in the work of many artists that influenced van Gogh, including Max Liebermann, Jozef Israëls, and Jean-François Millet. Millet’s direct influence can be seen in many of van Gogh’s copies of his scenes. In his book, Van Gogh and Gauguin, Bradley Collins states that “Millet brought together all of Vincent’s great passions – the beauty of even the most ordinary rural setting, the nobility of the peasant, and the virtue of unpretentious piety”3. Van Gogh’s interest in peasant life is made evident throughout the early parts of his artistic career. He admits this in a letter to his brother, Theo, dated April 13, 1885: “By continually observing peasant life, at all hours of the day, I have become so involved in it that I rarely think of anything else”4. In April of 1881, Vincent moved back into his parents’ house in Etten. It was there that he began making studies from live peasant models. In September of that year, he began a series of peasant women peeling potatoes (figs. 1-3). The artist explained the importance of this subject matter in a letter to his brother: 2 3 Danto. 158. Collins, Bradley I.. "Van Gogh: Zundert to Paris." In Van Gogh and Gauguin: electric arguments and utopian dreams. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2001. 14. 4 Gogh, Vincent van, and Ronald de. Leeuw. "Letter 400 [D]." In The letters of Vincent van Gogh. London: Penguin Books, 1997. 286. “To show the peasant figure in action, that – I repeat – is what an essentially modern figure painting really does, it is the very essence of modern art, something neither the Greeks nor the Renaissance nor the old Dutch school have done…They started doing peasants’ and workmens’ figures as a ‘genre’ – but nowadays, with Millet, the perennial master, in the lead, these figures have become the very essence of modern art and so they will remain”5. Vincent identified with the peasant class and felt it necessary to depict their humble nature. His studies of these peasant women focus on their domestic tasks and were often executed in the women’s modest homes. He portrays his peasant figures in rustic interiors, donning bonnets and wooden clogs, and seated on simple, rush-bottomed, ladder-back chairs. In his article, Thinking about Chairs, Godfrey Beaton describes the composition of these chairs: “A ladder-back chair with a rush seat is a chair reduced to its essentials. It is quite literally a stick chair, analogous to a stick man such as a child might draw. It has no superfluous parts, no excess of materials. Structures of this kind are close to being in what the engineer describes as their ‘minimum condition’”6. When thinking about peasant life, it seems appropriate that van Gogh would depict his working figures seated in chairs of “minimum condition”. Rush-bottomed chairs appear to symbolize country life, and their inclusion in van Gogh’s drawings during his time in Etten prove that he was interested in capturing the true nature of domestic peasant life. In his letters, Vincent often illustrates the importance of peasants – to him and to art. He does not discuss whether their inclusion in works of modern art is meaningful to – or beneficial for – the peasants themselves. It is therefore necessary to look at letters from 5 Gogh, Vincent van, and Ronald de. Leeuw. "Letter 418 [D]." 304. Beaton, Godfrey. "Thinking about chairs." Crafts (0306610X) no. 218 (May 2009): 102-105. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed April 24, 2014). 6 other sources who encountered the artist during his time in Etten. Jan Benjamin Kam (son of Reverend Jan Gerrit Kam) was from the neighboring town of Leur and often accompanied van Gogh on his visits to the peasants’ homes. Although he is not mentioned in any of van Gogh’s letters, Kam wrote to the art critic, Albert Plasschaert, in 1912 about Vincent’s working process that he had observed in Etten: “He was drawing sowers at that time and would enter the small houses to draw the woman as she was engaged in some domestic chores. He forced the people to pose for him. They were afraid of him and it was not pleasant to accompany him”7. This is an important point to consider when thinking about van Gogh’s intended purpose for the peasant drawings. Was he merely trying to capture rustic life, or was he creating and manipulating peasant scenes because he believed that was what a true modern artist should be doing? When looking at the portraits of peasant women peeling potatoes, the chair is not the focal point. The composition is centered around the woman, who happens to be seated. Woman Peeling Potatoes is an example of van Gogh’s utilization of a “task chair”. The woman would still have been able to peel potatoes if she was standing, or kneeling, or sitting on the floor. She is depicted seated on a chair because that was the most comfortable position for her to work on her task. If we believe Vincent’s letters and that he in fact made these studies from life, it seems obvious that a ladder-back chair would have been the type utilized by this woman. Not only is the rush-bottomed ladderback chair an accurate piece of furniture for a 19th century peasant, it is also an accurate form of furniture for someone who is peeling potatoes. Task chairs cannot recline too 7 Meedendorp, Teio, and Vincent van Gogh. "Etten." In Drawings and prints by Vincent van Gogh in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum. S.l.: Thieme Grafimedia Groep ;, 2007. 61. much or the sitter will be too far away from what they are doing. They will have to lean forward which is uncomfortable and causes bodily strain. In January of 1882, Vincent rented a studio in The Hague in Schenkweg, and was forced to find new models. He came across “a little old lady who was not too expensive”8, who he used as the model for Woman Sewing (fig. 4) and Woman Grinding Coffee (fig. 5). As in the portraits of Woman Peeling Potatoes, the model is seated on a “task chair”. However, in these portraits the background has been rendered innocuous. This gives the figure primary focus, and in turn allows the viewer to more easily notice the few objects accompanying her. In Woman Sewing, it seems that van Gogh is using the chair’s position to practice perspective. The diagonal lines of the floorboards intersect with the diagonal lines of the chair’s stretcher bars. The figure’s proportions are slightly off – her upper legs are elongated which is made noticeable by the distance between the chair’s seat and the foot warmer that she rests her feet on. By eliminating the background, and highlighting the woman’s sullen face, Vincent has given his Woman Sewing a sense of loneliness and sorrow. While in The Hague, van Gogh began executing large studies of women, many of them seated. He made multiple drawings titled Woman Seated between March and May of 1882 (figs. 6-8). Here, the women are again sitting on rush-bottomed ladder-back chairs, but they are not performing any specific task. Therefore, it seems that the chairs depicted in Woman Seated are implemented more for support than comfort. While the artist likely sought to study the way that a figure’s body responds to the act of being seated, it also seems that these portraits are not merely “figure studies”. All three 8 Ibid. 100. drawings are quite large (roughly 60 x 40 cm.), and while they are not signed, it appears that the artist considered them finished works.9 By depicting the women without any domestic chores, Vincent places contextual emphasis on each woman’s emotional state. The younger woman in figures 7 and 8 (who is commonly thought to be Sien) is hunched over with her head in her hands. She does not acknowledge the artist or the viewer, and is therefore reduced to an object of our gaze. Even though she is seated, she holds no power. Van Gogh was greatly inspired by the engravings in illustrated newspapers such as “The Graphic” and “The Illustrated London News”, and he purchased all 212 Graphic volumes from 1870-188010. It is likely that these inspired many of van Gogh’s portraits during his time in The Hague, including his 1882 lithograph titled Sorrow (fig. 9). The lithograph depicts Sien, again with her head buried in her hands; however, this time she is portrayed in her most vulnerable possible state. She is naked and pregnant, sitting hunched over in complete despair. She is no longer supported by a chair, but instead sinks downward onto a rock. Engraved images from The Graphic often depicted marginalized figures and “addressed a culture and social issues that Vincent understood, experienced, and cared about”11. In Sorrow, the seated figure is used by Vincent as a personification of the psychology of the poor and downtrodden. Van Gogh moved to Nuenen in December of 1883 and began to work on studies of weavers and loomers. After Vincent’s parents and his youngest sister, Willemien, 9 In letter 224 to Theo, Vincent states that a drawing of a seated woman from the same time is “unfinished” because he’d like to put an oak chair underneath the sitter (JH145), implying that the other drawings are completed works. 10 Collins. 15. 11 Druick, Douglas W., et al. "Encounters: October 1885-February 1888." In Van Gogh and Gauguin: the studio of the south. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago ;, 2001. 74. moved to Nuenen in 1882, he received letters from his sister describing the weavers in the village. Vincent had long desired to draw them, as is evidenced by a letter to Theo from September 24, 1880: “The miners and the weavers are something of a race apart from other workmen and tradesmen, and I have a great fellow-feeling for them and would count myself happy if I could draw them someday, so that these types, as yet unpublished, or almost unpublished, could be brought to notice…And more and more I find something touching and even heart-rending in these poor and obscure workers, the lowest of all, so to speak, and the most looked down upon, which one usually pictures through the effect of a perhaps vivid but very false and unjust imagination as a race of criminals and brigands”12. Again, we see van Gogh’s interest in depicting “poor and obscure workers” and again we find him relating them to himself. This particular quote is interesting for two reasons. First, the artist admits that he would like to be one of the first to publish images of weavers, proving that he is a truly “modern” artist. Secondly, he takes issue with the “false” societal imaginations of these subjects. Weavers and loomers occupied van Gogh for almost nine months, resulting in sixteen drawings and at least ten paintings13. From the aforementioned letter to Theo, it seems that van Gogh’s interest in depicting the weavers and loomers is based on the desire to give noble recognition to these workers in a truthful way. One of the aspects of weaving is reeling yarn, which van Gogh depicted in multiple drawings and watercolors (figs. 10 & 11). According to Sjraar van Heugten from the Van Gogh Museum, “Spinning yarn, which was once an essential preparation for weaving, had become more or less outdated by the time van Gogh arrived in Nuenen, and most weavers worked with 12 van Gogh, Vincent. "158." (157, 136): To Theo van Gogh. Cuesmes, Friday, 24 September 1880.. Van Gogh Museum 13 Meedendorp, Teio, and Vincent van Gogh. “Nuenen”. 249. machine-made yarn”14. Therefore, van Heugten suggests that, “it is more likely that they are posed scenes rather than documentary records of an everyday activity”15. While this fact may seem trivial, it begs the question of how truthful Vincent was about his intentions in the letter to Theo. Man Reeling Yarn and Woman Reeling Yarn are both seated on ladder-back chairs that appear to be lower to the ground than those we have seen in the previously mentioned works. The reeling figures focus on their task and seem unaware of the artist’s presence. This gives the impression that van Gogh is depicting them in their normal state, allowing them to go about their work while he documents the scene. There is evidence to suggest that this may not have been the case. Anton Kerssemakers took painting lessons from van Gogh in Nuenen and described Vincent’s studio in an article published in 1912. He stated that there was “a great heap of ashes around the stove, which had never known a brush or stove polish, a small number of chairs with frayed cane bottoms, and a cupboard with at least 30 different birds nests…a spool, a spinning wheel, a warming pan, a complete set of farm tools, old caps and hats, grubby bonnets and hoods, clogs, etc. etc.”16. If Kerssemakers’ description of Vincent’s studio in the Schafrat’s house is accurate, it is then possible that some (or all) of van Gogh’s reeling portraits were executed in his studio instead of in the homes of his subjects. The items in the reeling portraits match the inventory listed by Kerssemakers. Man Reeling Yarn sports a cap, while Woman Reeling Yarn dons a bonnet. Both figures wear clogs, and are seated by their spinning wheels and spools. It is known that Vincent had carried a collection of garments with him in The 14 Heugten, Sjraar van. "Man Winding Yarn." In Vincent van Gogh - Drawings. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 1997. 77. 15 16 Ibid. Ibid. 16-17. Hague, dressing up his figures for the orphan man portraits of 188217. This relates back to the notion of van Gogh “forcing” the peasants in Etten to pose for him. If the claims by Jan Benjamin Kam and Anton Kerssemakers are to be taken seriously, it seems that Vincent’s desire to distance himself from the Dutch ‘genre’ painting of peasants falls short. While van Gogh’s peasant portraits may not have completely broken from the tradition of genre painting, his later portraits certainly did, particularly in the case of Vincent’s Chair (fig. 12) and Gauguin’s Chair (fig. 13). The symbolic nature of the portraits exists in multiple realms. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is van Gogh’s use of the chair to define its sitter. Arthur C. Danto explains, If, to the academic chair and the episcopal cathedra, we add the regal throne, the judicial bench, the congressional seat, it is clear that the chair itself occupies the chair of preeminence in the community of pieces of basic furniture, each of which corresponds to the animal needs they transfigure and realize. This is because, so far as I know, none of the others – tables or beds, to take the obvious examples – are never said to rule or judge or decide or determine, as the chair, the throne, the bench are said and expected to do”18. As Danto has summarized, van Gogh’s decision to represent himself and Gauguin as chairs, reiterates the capability that a chair has to exemplify ones rank and power. Secondly, his decision to depict the chairs without their sitters speaks to his own emotional response to the image of an empty seat. An empty chair is undoubtedly ambiguous, but Vincent displayed an interest in them in his letters. In February of 1878 when van Gogh was in Amsterdam studying to become a clergyman, his father came to visit him. After his father departed, Vincent wrote in a letter to Theo, “I came home to my room and saw father’s chair still standing near the little table on which the books and 17 18 Meedendorp, Teio, and Vincent van Gogh. “The Hague”. 164. Danto. 159. copy books of the day before were still lying, though I know that we shall see each other again pretty soon, I cried like a child”19. In the case of his father, he saw the empty chair as a symbol of temporary absence. There were other instances where Vincent saw the empty chair as a symbol of death. He saw a woodcut by Luke Fildes in The Graphic that depicted the recently deceased Charles Dickens’ empty chair sitting before his desk (fig. 14). Vincent purchased a copy of the print and wrote to his brother, “Edwin Drood was Dickens’ last work, and Luke Fildes, having got in touch with D. through those small illustrations, comes into his room on the day of his death – sees his empty chair standing there, and so it was that one of the old Nos. of The Graphic had that striking drawing…Empty chairs – there are many, more will come, and sooner or later instead of Hermoker, Luke Fildes, Frank Holl, William Small &c. there will only be Empty chairs”20. From this letter, it can be determined that van Gogh was well aware of the austerity that an empty chair can convey. Vincent’s Chair and Gauguin’s Chair can therefore be interpreted as “memento mori for a dying union”21. Vincent himself admits that Gauguin’s Chair was meant to be seen as a memento in a letter to Albert Aurier, “A few days before parting company, when my disease forced me to go into a lunatic asylum, I tried to paint ‘his empty seat.’ It is a study of his armchair of somber reddishbrown wood, the seat of greenish straw, and in the absent one’s place a lighted torch and modern novels. If an opportunity presents itself, be so kind as to have a look at this study, by way of a memento of him; it is done entirely in broken tones of green and red. Then you will perceive that your article would have been fairer, and consequently more 19 van Gogh, Vincent. "140." (139, 118): To Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Sunday, 10 February 1878 20 van Gogh, Vincent. "293." (294, 252): To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Monday, 11 December 1882. 21 Andersen, Wayne V., and Barbara Klein. "Vincent's Chair." In Gauguin's paradise lost. New York: Viking Press, 1971. 74. powerful, I think, if, when discussing the question of the future of ‘tropical painting’ and of colors, you had done justice to Gauguin and Monticelli before speaking of me”22. Van Gogh’s letter was sent after he left the Yellow House, but the paintings were executed while he and Gauguin were still there. Gauguin hadn’t died as Charles Dickens had, nor had he been “temporarily absent” as Vincent’s father had been in Amsterdam. At the time that the paintings were created, Gauguin was merely a few feet away in the Yellow House that he shared with van Gogh. Why, then, was Vincent describing the portrait as a memento? From the letter to Aurier, it is clear that Vincent held Gauguin in much higher esteem than himself. It is possible that Vincent regarded the portrait as a memento because he knew that his time with Gauguin was coming to an end, as tensions at the Yellow House were becoming high. To analyze the meaning of the two portraits, we must start by looking at them objectively. Vincent began to furnish the Yellow House well before Gauguin’s arrival. He purchased twelve rush-bottomed ladder-back chairs23, one of which appears in Vincent’s Chair. The portrait is painted with thick impasto and strong yellow tones. Vincent’s simple chair holds his pipe and tobacco. Behind it, we can see a box of onions onto which he has signed his name. He grounds his chair by using the lines of the floor to create perspective. In their book, Gauguin’s Paradise Lost, Wayne V. Andersen and Barbara Klein state, “…he presented his chair and the objects surrounding it in the most earthbound forms, so straightforward and simple as to mock any attempts to extend them beyond themselves…He is saying not ‘These objects sum up what I am’ but rather ‘I, 22 van Gogh, Vincent. "853." (854, 626a): To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890. 23 van Gogh, Vincent. "677." (680, 534): To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Sunday, 9 September 1888. Vincent, use these objects and they suffice for my needs’”24. While both portraits were set in the studio, Vincent’s Chair was placed by the door leading from the front room into the kitchen25. Because it was painted in natural light, there is more shading and detail than in Gauguin’s Chair. Vincent’s use of a barium sulfate ground allows for a more textured and rustic effect26. Gauguin’s Chair is painted over a thick lead white ground, making “the forms appear more synthetic and the space less familiar”27. Vincent acquired this more ornate chair along with the initial twelve, and it is the same chair used in many of van Gogh’s portraits, most noticeably in those of Madame Ginoux28. Unlike Vincent’s Chair, which utilized perspective to appear grounded, Gauguin’s armchair seems to float in a room that is illuminated by gaslight. Collins states, “In this way, Vincent opposes his myth of himself as a peasant painter rooted in nature to the image of the worldly and dandified Gauguin, who had once worked at the Bourse and had lived in a fine apartment in the sixteenth arrondissement”29. The objects placed on Gauguin’s Chair have received much speculation from art historians. The novels have often been identified as a symbol of imagination and creativity, the candle and gaslight as a spark of ingenuity. Collins believes, “the gas lamp, in particular, reinforces the image of Gauguin as dependent, not on natural light, but on his own shining autonomous intellect”30. Collins also maintains that there are feminine 24 25 26 Andersen, Wayne V., and Barbara Klein. 75. Druick, Douglas W., et al. “Arles: 23 October – 23 December 1888”, 209. Ibid. Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Collins, 183. 30 Ibid. 27 characteristics represented in Gauguin’s Chair, including “the broad-bottomed upholstered seat, curvilinear shapes, greater refinement and embracing arms”31. Collins is particularly interested in the bisexuality of Gauguin’s Chair and attempts to derive sexual symbolism from the two portraits. He states, The phallic nature of the candle has been enhanced by the two novels, which become the equivalent of testicles, and by the placement of the candlestick toward the edge of the seat where the groin would rest…The similar location of the pipe and tobacco pouch on the other chair forces a comparison all to Vincent’s disadvantage. His testicles – the tobacco pouch – and his phallus – the dead pipe – are smaller, more flaccid, and, literally, less inflamed than Gauguin’s solid books and jutting, lit candle32. I find this claim a bit far-reaching. Arthur C. Danto also relates the pendant portraits to sex, and I find that his explanation holds more ground. He proposes that, “…to think that an object so connected with authority, domination, autonomy and power is to be constructed simply in terms of comfort would be equivalent to thinking that sex is to be appreciated solely in terms of pleasure”33. Of course we can think of a chair as an instrument for comfort, but as Danto points out, this does not mean that the chair loses its social meaning, only that it acquires a new one. In the modern age, a chair is thought of primarily in terms of its purpose. As we saw in van Gogh’s peasant portraits, the rush-bottomed chair was implemented for comfort and support. Although many of the peasants were seated in chairs, they were not meant to be seen as figures in power, although they did hold more status than figures seated without a chair (recall Sorrow). It is when van Gogh allowed chairs to be chairs that they became the most powerful. He was aware of the psychological effect that an 31 Ibid. 186. Ibid. 185-86. 33 Danto, 161. 32 empty chair could have on a viewer, as we saw in his letters about his father and the Fildes print. As he explained in his letter to Theo, “Empty chairs – there are many, more will come, and sooner or later… there will only be Empty chairs”34. A chair’s power lies in who it is meant to seat, and once they are gone the power lies in their absence. 34 van Gogh, Vincent. "293." (294, 252): To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Monday, 11 December 1882. Images fig. 1 Vincent van Gogh Woman Peeling Potatoes Watercolor, Black chalk, watercolour, heightened with white Etten: September, 1881 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 1209, JH: 22 fig. 2 Vincent van Gogh Woman Peeling Potatoes Watercolor, Black chalk, watercolour Etten: October, 1881 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 854, JH: 66 fig. 3 Vincent van Gogh Woman Peeling Potatoes Watercolor, Black and coloured chalk, watercolour Etten: September, 1881 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 1213, JH: 23 fig. 4 Vincent van Gogh Woman Sewing Watercolor, Pencil, watercolour, black chalk The Hague: March, 1883 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 1033, JH: 353 fig. 5 Vincent van Gogh Woman Grinding Coffee Watercolor, Pen, pencil, watercolour, heightened with white Etten: October, 1881 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 889, JH: 75 fig. 6 Vincent van Gogh Seated Woman Drawing, Pencil, pen, brush, sepia The Hague: April, 1882 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 936, JH: 140 fig. 7 Vincent van Gogh Seated Woman Drawing, Pencil, pen, brush, sepia, washed The Hague: May - early in month, 1882 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 935, JH: 143 fig. 8 Vincent van Gogh Seated Woman Drawing, Pencil, pen, brush, sepia, washed The Hague: May - early in month, 1882 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 937, JH: 144 fig. 9 Vincent van Gogh Sorrow Drawing, Black chalk The Hague: 10-Apr, 1882 Walsall Museum and Art Gallery Walsall, United Kingdom, Europe F: 929a, JH: 130 fig. 10 Vincent van Gogh Old Man Reeling Yarn Drawing, Pencil, black chalk, pen Nuenen: June - early in month, 1884 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 1138, JH: 486 fig. 11 Vincent van Gogh Woman Reeling Yarn Drawing, Pen Nuenen: June, 1884 Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe F: 1136, JH: 496 fig. 12 Vincent van Gogh Vincent’s Chair Painting, Oil on Canvas Arles: December, 1888 National Gallery London, United Kingdom, Europe F: 498, JH: 1635 fig. 13 Vincent van Gogh Gauguin’s Chair Painting, Oil on Canvas Arles: December, 1888 Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Europe F: 499, JH: 1636 fig. 14 After Samuel Luke Fildes The empty chair (‘Gad’s Hill, Ninth of June 1870’), in The Graphic. 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