L'Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux (Marie Julien, 1848–1911)

Van Gogh painted this portrait of Madame Ginoux in November 1888, during the weeks when Gauguin was staying with him at the Yellow House in Arles. Madame Ginoux was the proprietor of the Cafe de la Gare, where Van Gogh had taken his meals when he first arrived in the town. The portrait is vertical, roughly 36 by 29 inches. Madame Ginoux sits at a table, her hands folded in her lap, her head resting on her hand. She wears a black and white dress with a yellow shawl. The background is a flat green, applied in broad strokes. Her face is pale against the green, with dark eyes and dark hair. The composition is simple and frontal, with the figure centered in the frame. Van Gogh had known Madame Ginoux since he arrived in Arles in February 1888. He painted her portrait in a single evening session, with Gauguin working on his own version beside him. He wrote to Theo that he had captured her in one hour. He later made several copies of the painting after his hospitalization in early 1889, sending them to his brother and to the artist Emile Bernard. This portrait comes from the most intense period of Van Gogh's Arles stay. He and Gauguin had been working together for two months, arguing about art and painting side by side. The relationship would collapse in December 1888, leading to the ear incident and Van Gogh's hospitalization. This painting was made in the last calm week before that break. Oil on canvas, 91.4 by 73.7 centimeters. Van Gogh used broad, flat strokes for the background and finer, more controlled marks for the face and hands. The green of the background is a single color applied in one layer, a departure from his usual built-up surfaces. The vertical format and strong green background make this portrait work well in a dining room, hallway, or entryway. The black and white of the dress pairs with most color schemes. The 16x20 framed version in a black frame is a strong choice for a modern interior. The painting entered the Met's collection through the bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot in 1967. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.