Kneeling Ecorché

An écorché is a model of a human figure with the skin stripped away so that every muscle and tendon shows. Students had been learning anatomy from these plaster men since the 17th century, and Van Gogh owned one himself, the kneeling type you see here. The interesting thing about this small study is the problem he set himself. The traditional way to make a body look solid is light and shade. He goes after it through the paint instead, laying it thicker where the muscle rises and letting the direction of each stroke follow the form. The study is dated to Paris in June 1886, a few months after he had been sitting in front of casts in the classrooms of the Antwerp academy, which he had left without finishing the year.