The events that befell the early paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh in the period prior to the posthumous recognition of Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890) as an innovative artist show how the appreciation of his legacy changed his reputation in a relatively short time. A part of the work that remained with his family when he left the Netherlands must be considered lost, and the remaining early works of Vincent van Gogh tell an incomplete story. Some of those involved in the early trade have been interviewed by journalists and art researchers, but the literature on Van Gogh relies and focuses largely on his known existing work.
Contents |
The father of Vincent van Gogh, the Nuenen pastor Theo van Gogh, died unexpectedly on 26 March 1885. Vincent moved to Antwerp on November 27. In the following months his mother, Anna-Cornelia van Gogh-Carbentus, decided to move to a smaller home for her and her daughter Willemien. They found an upper part of a house on the corner of the Nieuwe Ginnekenstraat and Wapenplein (nowadays Van Coothplein 33 A) in Breda and moved there on 30 March 1886 (coincidentally Vincent's 33rd birthday).
Vincent's mother had a part of the furniture stored because the new house had insufficient space. It ended up in a warehouse owned by a carpenter Schrauer living in the Ginnekenstraat. Among the boxes were also some crates with paintings and drawings of Vincent. When the furniture and boxes were later retrieved, Vincent's sister Willemien discovered traces of woodworm in the crates and it was decided to leave it with Schrauer in the attic.
In the period from November 1885 until the end of February 1886 Vincent wrote from Antwerp to his brother Theo in Paris various letters about the upcoming move in March 1886 of his mother and sister. He wondered if he had to help with arrangements in Nuenen. Vincent went to Paris at the end of February 1886 and he did not help his family with packing. In a letter from Arles to his sister Willemien from June 1888 Vincent writes:
According to specialist researcher Jan Hulsker in his book Van Gogh door Van Gogh (1973) the word rubbish refers not to Vincent's own work, but to books and woodcuts, illustrations which he had taken from magazines and such. In a postscript of a letter in early August 1888 Vincent asks Willemien again to keep an eye on the books and prints that have remained in Breda.
This could mean that Vincent considered his work in the attic at Schrauer lost. In any case, in 1888 Theo and Willemien knew of belongings that had been left behind in Breda. In a letter from Vincent to Willemien (end of October 1889) he says that Willemien and her mother would move shortly thereafter to Leiden. The population register in Breda mentions that the move took place on November 2, 1889. On this basis, it is assumed that in the beginning of November 1889 his mother and Willemien reclaimed their possessions from Schrauer, but left Vincent's boxes because of the alleged woodworm.
Stokvis writes in his Research about Vincent van Gogh in Brabant (Nasporingen omtrent Vincent van Gogh in Brabant, 1926) on page 27:
Years later, Schrauer considered himself the rightful owner of the boxes because nobody had ever picked them up, he broke them open, took the folders with drawings, sketches and watercolors, and used the wood for various other purposes.
Seventeen years later, in 1903, Schrauer invited a market merchant Mr. J.C. Couvreur to sell some belongings, such as a small can, a pot and other kitchen equipment. Couvreur offered 2.50 guilders and Schrauer accepted on condition that he also take the rubbish which he had stored in his attic for so long. Couvreur agreed and stored the approximately sixty paintings, one hundred and fifty loose canvases, eighty pen drawings and between one hundred and two hundred chalk drawings in the basement of his house in the Stallingstraat in Breda.
He spoke of this in an article in the newspaper De Telegraaf on 25 April 1938:
After clearing his basement of the bags with nude drawings, Couvreur wanted to get rid of the remaining pictures as well and he approached a Rotterdam paintings merchant, called De Winter, who thought it was worthless, according to Couvreur in an article on 18 February 1950 in the Breda newspaper De Stem. Couvreur also delivered some paintings to Frans Meeuwissen, the owner of the café at the corner of Ginnekenstraat and Stallingstraat, who sold them or gave them away to customers. If someone offered Couvreur a beer, he could have a Van Gogh.
Couvreur was planning on selling the remaining canvases and drawings on the market, he tells in a Telegraaf newspaper article:
According to his story one day on his way to the market in the Ginnekenstraat the tailor C. Mouwen approached him to buy some paintings. Couvreur sold him six canvases for ten cents each. Later in the day a maid of Mouwen came and asked if she could have another six for the same price.
In a short time the amounts went tenfold, and then again:
The majority of the retrieved works was bought by C. Mouwen, who loaned some fifty paintings for an exhibition with art dealer Oldenzeel in Rotterdam in January 1903 and sold 25 paintings at an auction on 3 May 1904, and an unknown number went to his cousin W. van Bakel, lecturer at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. Because the names of the buyers have not all been recorded, traces of early works by Van Gogh continued to get lost until the early 20th century.