About This Artwork

Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, 1853-1890

Cottages with a Woman Working in the Middle Ground, 1890

Charcoal, reed pen and black ink, blue pastel, and white chalk on blue-gray laid paper
470 x 620.5 mm
Inscribed verso, upper right, in graphite: 3 digits ("5--"?) under "Go--"
Bequest of Kate L. Brewster, 1949.382

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Haarlem, Van Gogh's Gallery, 1911, as "Landschap Blauw."

Haarlem, Artz en de Bois, 1912, as "Moestuin."

Haarlem, J.H. de Bois, 1916 as "Moestiun in Arles."

Haarlem, J.H. de Bois, 1926, as "Jardin Potager."

London, Leicester Galleries "Vincent Van Gogh," 1926, cat. 31.

New York, Kraushaar Art Galleries, "Exhibition of Modern French Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings," October 1-18, 1928, as "Landscape."

Chicago, Arts Club, "Loan Exhibition of Modern Drawings and Sculpture Privately Owned by Chicagoans, January 3–17, 1930," n.p., cat. 29, as Landscape.

New York, Wildenstein and Company, "The Art and Life of Vincent Van Gogh," October 6-November 7, 1943, p. 124, cat. 80 (ill.).

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Van Gogh in Saint Remy and Auvers," November 25, 1986-March 22, 1987, p. 256, cat. 76 (ill.), cat. by Ronald Pickvance.

Otterlo, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, "Vincent Van Gogh Drawings," March 30-July 29, 1990, p. 327, cat. 246 (ill.), cat. by Johannes van der Wolk et al.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "The Broad Spectrum: Color on Paper, Past and Present," September 12–October 31, 1999, hors. cat.

Martigny, Switzerland, Fondation Pierre Gianada, "Vincent van Gogh," June 21-November 26, 2000, pp. 249 and 282, cat. 87 (ill.).

Vienna, Albertina (Museum), “Van Gough Heartfelt Lines,” September 5-December 8, 2008, pp. 406, 407, 409, and 455, cat. #129, cat. by Klaus Albrecht Schröder et al

Publication History

J. B. De la Faille, L'Oeuvre de Vincent Van Gogh (Brussels and Paris, 1928), p. 178, no. 1642, pl. CCIX.

J. B. de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings (Amsterdam, 1970), p. 560, no. 1642 (ill.).

Jan Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches (New York, 1980), no. 1994 (ill.).

J. E. Hijbroek and E.L. Wouthuysen, Kunst, Kennis en Commercis: De Kunsthandelaar J.H. de Bois, 1878-1946 (Amsterdam, 1993), p. 206.

Belinda Thomson, Van Gogh (Chicago, 2001), pp. 81, 102, and 107, pl. 15.

Ownership History

The artist's brother, Theo van Gogh (1854–1891), Paris; by descent to his widow, Johanna Cohen Gosschalk-Bonger (1862–1925). C. M. van Gogh, by January 1911 [Hijbroek and Wouthuysen 1993]. Artz en de Bois, Haarlem, by July 1912 [de la Faille 1928]. J. H. de Bois, Haarlem, by 1916–1926 [Hijbroek and Wouthuysen 1993]; sold to The Leicester Gallery (closed 1928), London [de la Faille 1928]. Kraushaar Gallery, New York, by 1928 [New York 1928]; sold to Mrs. Lewis L. Coburn (1856–1932), Chicago; sold to Walter S. (1872–1954) and Kate L. Brewster (c. 1879–1947), Chicago, 1929 [letter from Walter S. Brewster to Lewis L. Coburn dated May 1, 1929 in museum archives]; bequeathed by Kate L. Brewster to the Art Institute, 1949.