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Vincent van Gogh’s Arlésienne of 1890: A Case Study in Rethinking the Avant-garde’s Myth of Originality

Barone, Francesca
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Abstract
My thesis focuses on the painting of L’Arlésienne: Portrait of Madame Ginoux (1890) by Vincent van Gogh on display at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome. It explores the collaboration between Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh during their time in Arles (1888-1889) which was fundamental for the longer process of making of L’Arlésienne. Indeed, both artists worked in 1888 with the same sitter, at the same time, but they painted two works that, this thesis argues, highlight Gauguin and van Gogh’s capital differences in “style” and, crucially, in artistic theories when subject matter and formal elements superficially appear to be so similar. Secondary sources on the topic highlight the biographic and iconographic collaboration between the two post-Impressionist painters, of which L’Arlésienne is a prime case-study, and draw attention to the similarities between Gauguin’s preliminary sketch and the portrait of Madame Ginoux made by van Gogh. These visual similarities are in part due to van Gogh’s decision to repurpose Gauguin’s sketch which he took as a starting point for his painting. However, their approach and “style,” analyzed through the prism of their artistic theories and critical reception, differ significantly even when they treat the same subject matter or compositional motif. This thesis aims to shed wanted light on their artistic differences and ultimately to provide new insights on the issues of “copy” and “originality” in the avant-garde, suggesting that the avant-garde “myth of originality” has had an enduring impact on art-historical literature on the historical avant-garde, at the expense of understanding the critical and material decisions made by artists, and their import for its critical history.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Art and Design)--John Cabot University, Fall 2022.
Date
2022
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Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890
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Barone, Francesca. "Vincent van Gogh’s Arlésienne of 1890: A Case Study in Rethinking the Avant-garde’s Myth of Originality". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2022.
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