Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Appreciation
Portrait of the Artist's Mother Nederland Vincent van Gogh Gallery and Appreciation
Portrait of Artist's Mother is a painting Vincent van Gogh made in 1888 of his mother, Anna Carbentus van Gogh from a black-and-white photograph. In September 1888 Van Gogh - answering to a letter of his sister Wil who had told him of a recent photograph of their mother - asked for a print. About a week later he received it, but - "troubled by the black" - sat down to paint a copy based on this likeness: Van Gogh's initial introduction to art was through his mother, an amateur artist. After years of strained relationship with family members, Van Gogh excitedly shared some of his works his mother would cherish most, those of flowers and natural settings. In this painting of his mother, Van Gogh captures her dignified, proud nature.
Van Gogh made the painting, Ladies of Arles (Memories of the Garden at Etten), to depict an older woman who he envisioned as his mother and a younger woman in a plaid shawl to represent his sister Wil and the lovely gardens of the Netherlands. In a letter to his sister Wil Van Gogh said he had "an impression of you like those in Dicken's novels."