Vincent van Gogh
The Sower
1888
Le Semeur au soleil couchant
Oil on canvas
73 x 92 cm
Signed lower right: Vincent
De la Faille 450
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings, Amsterdam, 1970.
Provenance
1The artist’s family For the succession upon the death of the artist, see Chris Stolwijk, Han Veenenbos, The Account Book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Amsterdam & Leiden 2002, pp. 21–22.
2Frederik Willem van Eeden Bussum • 1890 until at least 1905 Received as a gift from Jo van Gogh-Bonger on the occasion of a visit to Paris on 28 October 1890, Solwijk, Veenenbos as above, n. (1), p. 24, n. 23; Les XX Bruxelles, Huitième exposition annuelle, Musée d’art moderne, Brussels 1891, no. 1; Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1905, no. 112a.
3Martha van Eeden-van Vloten Laren Wife of the above, de la Faille no. 450; possibly received from the above as part of a divorce settlement in 1907.
4Kunstzaal d’Audretsch The Hague De la Faille no. 450; the gallery was founded in 1913.
5Paul Cassirer Berlin • 1914 Walter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh, Die Gemälde 1886–1890, Händler, Sammler, Ausstellungen, Die frühen Provenienzen, Wädenswil 2009, p. 171.
6Franz von Mendelssohn Berlin • 1914 until [d.] 1935 Acquired from the above in March 1914, Feilchenfeldt as above, n. (5).
7Robert von Mendelssohn Berlin & Pfonstetten (St. Georgenhof) • 1935–1951 Son of the above, AStEGB, Inventory Card Van Gogh, Sower with Setting Sun.
8Emil Bührle Zurich • 30 November 1951 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above for CHF 320.000, through the medium of Dr. Fritz Nathan, St. Gall, AStEGB, Entry Book I, 20 November 1951, with reference to the date of purchase, and indication of price, identifying Nathan as the consignor; AStEGB, Gästebuch I, Entry of 29 November 1951, indicates that Robert von Mendelssohn was in Zurich and visiting the Bührle Collection at the date of purchase.
9Given by the heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich • 1960 Inv. 49.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings, Amsterdam, 1970.
Exhibitions
1891Les XX Bruxelles, Catalogue de la huitième exposition annuelle Musée d’art moderne • Brussels • 1891 no. 1.
1905Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam • 1905 no. 112a.
1954Vincent van Gogh Kunsthaus Zurich • 1954 not in catalogue.
1958Sammlung Emil G. Bührle, Festschrift zu Ehren von Emil G. Bührle zur Eröffnung des Kunsthaus-Neubaus und Katalog der Sammlung Emil G. Bührle Kunsthaus Zurich • 1958 no. 241.
1958Hauptwerke der Sammlung Emil Georg Bührle–Zürich Haus der Kunst • Munich • 1958–59 no. 72.
1961Masterpieces of French Painting from the Bührle Collection Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh • National Gallery, London • 1961 no. 51.
1964Chefs-d’œuvre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso Exposition nationale suisse (Palais de Beaulieu) • Lausanne • 1964 no. 114.
1984Van Gogh in Arles Metropolitan Museum of Art • New York • 1984 no. 129.
1998Magie der Bäume Fondation Beyeler • Riehen/Basel • 1998–99 no. 44.
2002L’impressionismo e l’età di van Gogh Casa dei Carraresi • Treviso • 2002–03 no. 154.
2009Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night (Van Gogh en de kleuren van de nacht • Van Gogh und die Farben der Nacht • Van Gogh et les couleurs de la nuit • Van Gogh e i colori della notte • Van Gogh y los colores de la noche) Museum of Modern Art, New York • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam • 2009 no. 51 (exhibited in Amsterdam only).
2010Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Die Sammlung Bührle zu Gast im Kunsthaus Zürich Kunsthaus Zurich • 2010 no. 49.
2014Monet, Gauguin, van Gogh…, Inspiration Japan Museum Folkwang, Essen • Kunsthaus Zurich • 2014–15 no. 40.
2017Chefs-d’oeuvre de la collection Bührle, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Van Gogh… Fondation de l’Hermitage • Lausanne • 2017 no. 34.
2018Bührle Collection: Impressionist Masterpieces from the E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich (Switzerland) National Art Center, Tokyo • Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka • Nagoya City Art Museum • 2018 no. 46.
2019La Collection Emil Bührle Musée Maillol • Paris • 2019 no. 45.
2019Le retour du semeur Fondation Vincent van Gogh • Arles • 2019.
References
1904Julius Meier-Graefe Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst Stuttgart • 1904 • p. 119, n. 1.
1928Jacob-Baart de la Faille L’œuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Catalogue raisonné Paris & Brussels • 1928 • vol. 1 Tableaux, texte no. 450 • vol. 2 Tableaux, planches fig. 122 (bottom right).
1937Willem Scherjon • Willem Josyah de Gruyter Vincent van Gogh’s Great Period, Arles, St-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise (Complete Catalogue) Amsterdam • 1937 • p. 143 (ill.).
1939Jacob-Baart de la Faille Vincent van Gogh Paris • 1939 • no. 481 (ill.).
1951Werner Weisbach Vincent van Gogh, Kunst und Schicksal, vol. 2, Künstlerischer Aufstieg und Ende Basel • 1951 • p. 79.
1953Jean Cassou Les impressionnistes et leur époque Paris • 1953 • fig. 66 • (German edition: Die Impressionisten und ihre Zeit, Lucerne 1953).
1953François Daulte «Le Semeur de van Gogh» in Arts (14 May) • 1953 • p. 2 (ill.).
1956François Daulte «Le chef-d’œuvre d’une vie: la collection Buhrle» in Connaissance des Arts (52, 15 June) • 1956 • p. 35 (ill.).
1958Max Huggler «Die Sammlung Bührle im Zürcher Kunsthaus» in Werk (45) • 1958 • p. 370.
1959René Elvin «Collector Extraordinary: The Bührle Collection and the New Zurich Kunsthaus» in The Studio (158) • 1959 • p. 54.
1960Robert Th. Stoll Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne Zurich • 1960 • p. 31, 34, fig. 12.
1960Jan Hulsker in Maatstaf (1) • 1960 • p. 333.
1963Heinz R. Graetz The Symbolic Language of Vincent van Gogh New York etc. • 1963 • pp. 127–128.
1963René Wehrli «Emil G. Bührle, Zurich, French Nineteenth-Century Paintings» in Great Private Collections Douglas Cooper (ed.) • New York • 1963 • pp. 218 (ill.), 221.
1969Schätze aus Museen und Sammlungen in Zürich Zurich • 1969 • pp. 308–309 (ill.).
1970Jacob-Baart de la Faille The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings Amsterdam • 1970 • no. F 450 (ill.).
1970Mark Roskill Van Gogh, Gauguin, and the Impressionist Circle Greenwich (Connecticut) & London • 1970 • p. 152, fig. 147.
1971Paolo Lecaldano L’opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici vol. 2 Da Arles a Auvers Milan • 1971 • no. 594 (ill.; 21977; French edition: Tout l’œuvre peint de Vincent van Gogh, vol. 2, Paris 1971 • German edition: Das gemalte Gesamtwerk des Van Gogh, vol. 2, Von Arles bis Auvers, Lucerne etc. 1971 • Spanish edition: La obra pictórica completa de Van Gogh, vol. 2, Barcelona 1971).
1972Dr. Fritz Nathan und Dr. Peter Nathan, 1922–1972 Zurich • 1972 • no. 96 (ill.).
1973Jan Hulsker Van Gogh door Van Gogh Amsterdam • 1973 • p. 176.
1973Leopold Reidemeister etc. Stiftung Sammlung Emil G. Bührle • Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle • Foundation Emil G. Bührle Collection Zurich & Munich • 1973 • no. 87 (ill.; 21986).
1977Jan Hulsker Van Gogh en zijn weg, Het complete werk Amsterdam • 1977 • no. 1627 (ill.; 21979, 31985, 41985, 51986, 61989; English edition: The Complete Van Gogh, Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Oxford & New York 1980).
1980Sophie Monneret L’Impressionnisme et son époque, Dictionnaire international illustré vol. 3 • Paris • 1980 • p. 140.
1981Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism (exh. cat.) • Art Gallery of Ontario • Toronto etc. • 1981 • p 139.
1986Ronald Pickvance Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers (exh. cat.) • Metropolitan Museum of Art New York • 1986–87 • p. 316.
1988Walter Feilchenfeldt Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cassirer, Berlin, The Reception of Van Gogh in Germany from 1901 to 1914 Zwolle • 1988 • p. 95.
1989Victor Merlhès Paul Gauguin et Vincent van Gogh, 1887–1888, Lettres retrouvées, sources ignorées Taravao (Tahiti) • 1989 • p. 175 (ill.).
1989Rainer Metzger • Ingo F. Walther Vincent van Gogh, Sämtliche Gemälde Cologne • 1989 • vol. 2 • Arles, Februar 1888–Auvers-sur-Oise, Juli 1890, p. 452 (ill.; 21993; 32001; Hungarian edition: Van Gogh, A festői életmű, Budapest 2005).
1992Wilfred Niels Arnold Vincent van Gogh, Chemicals, Crises and Creativity Boston • 1992 • (German edition: Vincent van Gogh, Ein Leben zwischen Kreativität und Krankheit, Basel etc. 1993, fig. 3.1).
1993Martha Kapos (ed.) The Post-Impressionists, A Retrospective London & New York • 1993 • fig. 72.
1994Thomas Noll «Der grosse Sämann», Zur Sinnbildlichkeit in der Kunst von Vincent van Gogh Worms • 1994.
1994Emil Maurer Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zürich Bern • 1994 • pp. 44 (ill.)–45 (English edition: Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Bern 1995).
1996Jan Hulsker The New Complete Van Gogh, Enlarged Edition of the Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Vincent van Gogh Amsterdam & Philadelphia • 1996 • no. 1627 (ill.).
1997William W. Meissner Vincent’s Religion, The Search for Meaning New York etc. • 1997 • pp. 200–202, fig. 8.
1998Hans Belting Das unsichtbare Meisterwerk, Die modernen Mythen der Kunst Munich • 1998 • p. 211, fig. 70.
1998Christian Bührle «Die Stiftung Sammlung Emil G. Bührle in Zürich» in Die Kunst zu sammeln, Schweizer Kunstsammlungen seit 1848 • L’art de collectionner, Collections d’art en Suisse depuis 1848 • L’arte di collezionare, Collezioni svizzere d’arte dal 1848 Swiss Institute for Art Research (ed.) • Zurich • 1998 • p. 136, fig. 5.
2000Ronald Pickvance Van Gogh (exh. cat.) • Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny • 2000 • p. 83. ▪
2000Debora Silverman Van Gogh and Gauguin, The Search for Sacred Art New York • 2000 • pp. 269–270, fig. 109.
2001Daniel Wildenstein Gauguin, Premier itinéraire d’un sauvage, Catalogue de l’œuvre peint (1873–1888) Paris & Milan • 2001 • vol. 2, p. 528 (ill.).
2001Bradley Collins Van Gogh and Gauguin, Electric Arguments and Utopian Dreams Cambride (Massachusetts) • 2001 • p. 153, fig. 5.10 (22004).
2001Daniel Wildenstein Gauguin, Premier itinéraire d’un sauvage, Catalogue de l’œuvre peint (1873–1888) Paris & Milan • 2001 • vol. 2 • p. 527 (ill.).
2001Van Gogh and Gauguin, The Studio of the South (exh. cat.) • Art Institute of Chicago; Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam • 2001–02 • p. 218, fig. 77.
2002Van Gogh, Felder, Das Mohnfeld und der Künstlerstreit (exh. cat.) • Kunsthalle Bremen • 2002–03 • p. 130 (ill).
2003Vincent’s Choice: The Musée imaginaire of van Gogh (exh. cat.) • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam • 2003 • fig. 137.
2003Toos van Kosten • Mieke Rijnders (editors) The Paintings of Vincent van Gogh in the Collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo • 2003 • p. 236.
2004Lukas Gloor • Marco Goldin (ed.) Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Catalogue vol. 3 • Conegliano & Zurich • 2004 • no. 130 (ill.; German edition: Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Katalog • Italian edition: Fondazione Collezione E.G. Bührle, Catalogo).
2006Martin Geyford The Yellow House, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles London & New York • 2006 • pp. 185–186 (German edition: Das gelbe Haus, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Neun turbulente Wochen in Arles, Bern & Vienna 2015, p. 267, fig. 65).
2007Stefan Koldehoff «Van Gogh in Germany until 1918, Catalogue of Collections and Exhibitions» in Van Gogh and Expressionism (exh. cat.) • Neue Galerie, New York • 2007 • p. 171.
2008Christoph Wetzel Das Grosse Lexikon der Symbole Darmstadt • 2008 • p. 67 (ill.).
2009Walter Feilchenfeldt «Theo van Gogh als Sammler der Landschaftsbilder seines Bruders» in Vincent van Gogh, Zwischen Himmel und Erde (exh. cat.) • Kunstmuseum Basel • 2009 • p. 53, fig. 24.
2009Walter Feilchenfeldt Vincent van Gogh, Die Gemälde 1886–1890, Händler, Sammler, Ausstellungen, Die frühen Provenienzen Wädenswil • 2009 • p. 171 (ill.).
2010Leo Jansen etc. (eds.) Vincent van Gogh, The Letters, The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition London & New York • 2010 • vol. 4 • Arles, 1888–1889, entry for no. 722, fig. 1; entry for no. 723, fig. 4; entry for no. 767, n. 1; vol. 5, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence–Auvers-sur-Oise, 1889–1890, entry for no. 774, fig. 5, n. 4; entry for no. 776, fig. 11; entry for no. 784, fig. 36, n. 15; entry for no. 800, fig. 3.
2010Van Gogh, The Adventure of Becoming an Artist [in Japanese] • (exh. cat.) • National Art Center, Tokyo, etc. • 2010 • p. 22, fig. 14.
2012Jennifer A. Thompson «Van Gogh and close-up techniques in 19th-century French painting» in Van Gogh Up Close, Cornelia Homburg (ed.) • New Haven & London • 2012 • p. 73, fig. 53.
2012Sjraar van Heugten «Van Gogh et le Japon: Une histoire d’amour» in Van Gogh, Rêves de Japon (exh. cat.) • Pinacothèque, Paris • 2012 • p. 51, fig. 29.
2013Marije Vellekoop «Van Gogh finds a style of his own» in Van Gogh at Work (exh. cat.) • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam • 2013 • p. 186, fig. 246.
2014Sjraar van Heugten Van Gogh, Coleurs du nord, couleurs du sud (exh. cat.) • Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles • 2014 • p. 107, fig. 49.
2015Sjraar van Heugten «Nature and the South, Arles and Saint-Rémy 1888–1890» in Van Gogh and Nature New Haven & London • 2015 • pp. 147, 164.
2015Hans-Ulrich Thamer Kunst Sammeln, Eine Geschichte von Leidenschaft und Macht Darmstadt • 2015 • p. 165.
2016Ingo F. Walther Vincent van Gogh 1857–1890, Vision und Wirklichkeit Cologne • 2016 • pp. 46, 57 (ill.).
2016Sjraar van Heugten Van Gogh in Provence: Modernizing Tradition (exh. cat.) • Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles • 2016 • pp. 98–99, fig. 58 (French edition: Van Gogh en Provence: la tradition modernisée).
2016Simon Kelly «’The Great Revolution›, Van Gogh, the Barbizon School, and Constructing an Avant-Garde» in Van Gogh, Into the Undergrowth (exh. cat.) • Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati (Ohio) • 2016–17 • p. 27, fig. 7.
2017Jan Blanc Van Gogh, Ni dieu, ni maître Paris • 2017 • p. 236. fig. 220.
2017Sjraar van Heugten «Vincent van Gogh and the seasons: Images of nature and humanity» in Van Gogh and the Seasons (exh. cat.) • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne • 2017 • pp. 42 (ill. bottom), 46.
2021Lukas Gloor «The Holdings of the Emil Bührle Collection: Illustrated List of All 633 Purchases» in The Emil Bührle Collection: History, Full Catalogue and 70 Masterpieces Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.) • Munich • 2021 • no. 214 (ill.).