Sorrow | |
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Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
Year | 1882 |
Catalogue | F929a |
Type | Drawing |
Medium | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
Subject | Nude |
Dimensions | 44.5 cm × 27.0 cm (17.5 in × 10.6 in) |
Condition | Good |
Location | The New Art Gallery Walsall, England |
Accession | 1973.128.GR |
Sorrow is a drawing by Vincent van Gogh, produced in 1882.
The work, created two years after Van Gogh had decided to become an artist, depicts 32-year-old pregnant woman Clasina Maria Hoornik, familiarly known as Sien. Sorrow is widely acknowledged as a masterwork of draftsmanship,[citation needed] the culmination of a long and sometimes uncertain apprenticeship by Van Gogh in learning his craft.[failed verification][1] The drawing is part of the Garman Ryan Collection held at The New Art Gallery Walsall.[2] Previously, it was in the private collection of artist Sally Ryan, who had the work hung in her permanent suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London.[3]
The drawing is one of a series using Sien Hoornik as model. It is mentioned in a number of letters by Van Gogh, and he appears to have thought highly of it, considering it an important work and describing the drawing as "the best figure I've drawn".[4] In a letter from July 1882, Van Gogh states; I want to make drawings that touch some people. Sorrow is a small beginning [...] there is at least something directly from my own heart.[5] The piece is numbered as F929a in the catalogue raisonné by Jacob Baart de la Faille.