Portrait of a Girl with a Bunch of Flowers

Theo van Gogh bought this portrait straight from the painter, together with a small view of a Paris park, and paid 250 francs for the two through Goupil and Company, the firm he worked for. That was somewhere between 1882 and 1885, when Theo was in his mid-twenties and his brother Vincent, back in the Netherlands, was a couple of years into teaching himself to draw. Hans Heyerdahl was born the same year as Theo, in 1857, to Norwegian parents living in Sweden, and by 1882 he had been in Paris for several years. The girl has never been identified. She looks straight out, a little unsure of herself, holding what are probably daisies. Heyerdahl spread the green background on thinly with a palette knife so the pale ground shows through in places, keeping her outline soft while the face is worked up sharply. Both pictures Theo bought from him are still in the museum, the park and the girl.