| Prisoners Exercising (after Doré) |
| Details | ||
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Oil on canvas 80.0 x 64.0 cm. Saint-Rémy: 10-11 February, 1890 F 669, JH 1885 Moscow: Pushkin Museum |
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| History | ||
| Provenance Exhibitions |
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| Analysis | ||
| See below |
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Prisoners Exercising (also known as Prisoners' Round) was painted during Vincent van Gogh's stay at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. During the month of February, 1890 Van Gogh produced a number of paintings that were copies of works by other artists. Vincent wrote to Theo: "I have tried making copies of Men Drinking by Daumier and The Prison by Doré; it is very difficult."1 In fact, in this letter alone Van Gogh makes reference to two other copies he was working on (after paintings by Delacroix and Millet).
The original of this work, Newgate: The Exercise Yard, was drawn by Gustav Doré (1833-83) and published in the volume "London, a Pilgrimage" by Blanchard Jerrold (London, 1872). Van Gogh was a great admirer of the English engravings of that period in which social hardships were harshly but realistically featured. Prisoners Exercising is one of the most striking copies of Van Gogh's career. The subject matter itself is of particular interest, given Vincent's own self-imposed internment. Dr. Jan Hulsker comments: "There is, however, considerable support for the view that an element of biographical association is to be found here. Can it really be that Prisoners' Round embodies an unspoken criticism of the deadly monotony of life at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole? Nobody can tell."2
1. Letter 626, 10-11 February 1890. 2. The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches by Jan Hulsker (J.M. Meulenhoff, 1996), p. 436. |
| Owner | City | Country | Date acquired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johanna van Gogh-Bonger | Amsterdam | Netherlands | |
| Willy Gretor [Wilhelm Rudolph Julius Petersen] | Paris | France | |
| Mrs. M. Slavona | Paris | France | |
| Maurice Fabre | Paris | France | |
| Eugène Druet Art Gallery | Paris | France | |
| Prince Alexandre Berthier de Wagram | Paris | France | |
| Eugène Druet Art Gallery | Paris | France | |
| I.A. Morosov | Moscow | Russia | 1909 |
| Museum of Modern Western Art | Moscow | Russia | Until 1948 |
| Pushkin Museum | Moscow | Russia | 1948 |
| Year | City | Country | Venue | Exhibition Name | Start Date | End Date | No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Paris | France | Galerie Bernheim-Jeune | Exposition d'Oeuvres de Vincent van Gogh | 15 March 1901 | 31 March 1901 | 26 |
| 1905 | Paris | France | Grandes Serres de l'Alma | Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, 21e exposition: Exposition rétrospective Vincent van Gogh | 24 March 1905 | 30 April 1905 | 14 |
| 1909 | Paris | France | Galerie Eugène Druet | Cinquante tableaux de Vincent van Gogh | 8 November 1909 | 20 November 1909 | |
| 1937 | Paris | France | Les Nouveaux Musées, Quai de Tokyo | La vie et l'oeuvre de Van Gogh | |
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12 |
| 1960 | Paris (1) | France | Musée Jacquemart-André | Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890 | |
61 | |
| 1983 | Lugano | Switzerland | Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza (Villa Favorita, Castagnola) | Capolavori Impressionisti e Post-impressionisti dai Musei Sovietici | 16 June 1983 | 15 October 1983 | |
| 1993 | Essen | Germany | Museum Folkwang | Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso | 25 June 1993 | 31 October 1993 | |
| 1993-94 | Moscow | Russia | Pushkin Museum | Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso | 30 November 1993 | 30 January 1994 | |
| 1994 | St. Petersburg | Russia | Hermitage | Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso | 16 February 1994 | 16 April 1994 | |
| 1996 | The Hague | Netherlands | Haags Gemeentemuseum | Van Monet tot Matisse. Franse meesters uit het Poesjkin Museum in Moskou | 13 July 1996 | 13 October 1996 | |
| 2002-03 | Houston (2) | United States | Museum of Fine Arts | Old Masters, Impressionists, and Moderns: French Masterworks from the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow | 15 December 2002 | 9 March 2003 | 51 |
| 2003 | Atlanta | United States | High Museum of Art | Old Masters, Impressionists, and Moderns: French Masterworks from the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow | 5 April 2003 | 29 June 2003 | |
| 2003 | Los Angeles | United States | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Old Masters, Impressionists, and Moderns: French Masterworks from the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow | 27 July 2003 | 13 October 2003 | |
| 2008 | Vienna | Austria | Albertina | Vincent van Gogh: "Drawn" Pictures | 5 September 2008 | 7 December 2008 | |
| 2009 | Martigny | Switzerland | Fondation Pierre Gianadda | From Courbert to Picasso | 19 June 2009 | 22 November 2009 | |
| 2010 | Budapest | Hungary | Museum of Fine Arts | Degas to Picasso: French Masterpieces from the Pushkin Museum, Moscow | 28 January 2010 | 25 April 2010 | 27 |
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