L'Arlésienne

In the first days of November 1888 Van Gogh and Gauguin were living and painting together in the yellow house in Arles, an arrangement that would end badly within weeks. Madame Ginoux, who ran the café where Van Gogh had been lodging, agreed to pose for them both at once. Gauguin worked slowly at a charcoal drawing. Van Gogh, by his own account, knocked off a whole painting in about an hour. This is the second of two versions he made from that sitting. He kept her Arlésienne costume and thoughtful pose but swapped the gloves and parasol of the first for three books on the table. A few weeks later the two men quarrelled, and Van Gogh cut off part of his own ear.