Provenance
By inheritance after the artist's 1890 death to his brother, Theo van Gogh [1857-1891], Paris; by inheritance to his wife and the artist's sister-in-law, Mme Johanna van Gogh-Bonger [1862-1925], Amsterdam; sold 9 June 1891 to Paul Gallimard [1850-1929], Paris.[1] private collection of the Bernheim-Jeune family, Paris, from at least 1917;[2] sold 1929 to (Alex Reid & Lefèvre, London);[3] half share with (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold January 1930 to W. Averell Harriman [1891-1986], New York;[4] his third wife, Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman [1920-1997], Washington, D.C., and Paris; gift (partial and promised) 1991 to NGA; gift completed 1997.
[1] The painting is listed in the Andries Bonger list, no 264, as "roses dans un pot (fond vert bleu) / vendu le 9 juin 1891 à M. Gallimard à fr. 400." This list of 364 works by Van Gogh is in the handwriting of Andries Bonger, who was Theo Van Gogh's brother-in-law. The list is undated, but thought by scholars to be c. 1890/1891 ("Catalogue des oeuvres de Vincent van Gogh," manuscript b 3055 V/1962, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; transcribed and published in Walter Feilchenfeldt, _Vincent van Gogh: die Gemalde 1886-1890_, Wadenswil, 2009, and Walter Feilchenfeldt, _Vincent van Gogh, the Years in France. Complete Paintings 1886-1890_, London, 2013: 287ff; copy in NGA curatorial files). The transcription of the entry for 264 in Feilchenfeldt 2013 is missing the word "bleu" in the first line; see the Bonger list in digitized form at http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/en/geheugen/view?coll=ngvn&identifier=VGM01%3Ab3055 (accessed May 2018). Previously the first documented reference to Gallimard's ownership was a 1905 exhibition catalogue mentioned by J.-B. de la Faille, _The Works of Vincent van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings_, Amsterdam, 1970: no. F681. The painting is not described in Louis Vauxcelles, "Collection M.P. Gallimard," _Les Arts_ (September 1908): 1-32.
[2] The painting was lent by "Coll. B.J" to a 1917 exhibition in Zurich, the catalogue not specifying Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), or his sons, Josse Bernheim-Jeune (1870-1941) or Gaston Bernheim-Jeune (1870-1953), who joined him in the art dealership.
[3] Letter dated 7 February 1929 from Reid & Lefèvre to Bernheim-Jeune (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 228; copy in NGA curatorial files). The painting was exhibited at Alex Reid & Lefevre in Glasgow in 1929 as "from a great private collection."
[4] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Stockbook No. 8, p.75, and Sales Book No. 13 (copies in NGA curatorial files).
Accession Number
1991.67.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 71 x 90 cm (27 15/16 x 35 7/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Pamela Harriman in memory of W. Averell Harriman
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas Dutch
Background & Context
Background Story
Van Gogh painted Roses in 1890, during the final months of his stay at the asylum in Saint-Remy. It is one of a group of still lifes he produced in the weeks before his discharge - a period of intense productivity that also yielded some of his most celebrated landscapes. The painting depicts a simple bouquet of roses in a vase against a pale green background, its surface alive with the rhythmic, sculptural brushwork that defines Van Gogh's late style.
What makes this painting remarkable is its restraint. Where Van Gogh's Sunflowers explode with chromatic intensity, Roses breathes in a quiet register: soft pinks, creamy whites, and the characteristic Van Gogh green. The flowers are not yet fully open; some buds are still tightly closed, suggesting promise rather than full display.
The painting's surface tells a story of its own. Scientific analysis has revealed that the roses were originally a more vivid pink, but a red pigment called geranium lake has faded over time, leaving the present muted tones. This unintended transformation gives the painting a wistful quality that mirrors Van Gogh's own situation: an artist producing tranquil work while knowing his time was running out.
Cultural Impact
Van Gogh's floral still lifes demonstrate the range of his emotional palette - from the ecstatic energy of the Sunflowers to the meditative calm of Roses. Together, they established the flower painting as a vehicle for expressing the full spectrum of human feeling.
Why It Matters
Roses is proof that Van Gogh could be subtle. The popular image of Van Gogh as a purely volatile, expressionistic painter is incomplete - this painting reveals a capacity for quiet observation and delicate color harmony that places him in the same lineage as Chardin and Cezanne.
