NEW DRAWING OF VAN GOGH IDENTIFIED AND ON DISPLAY AT VAN GOGH MUSEUM

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most well known artists with the most iconic artistic styles this world has ever seen. Recently fans have been surprised with a newly identified sketch of Van Gogh. 

The “new” pencil sketch, entitled Study for Worn Out, depicts an old man sitting in a chair and holding his head in his hands. This resembles his other pieces notably the drawing Worn Out and the painting At Eternity's Gate. 

 Emilie Gordenker, director of the Van Gogh Museum, stated that “As a knowledge center dedicated to the work of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries, we’re delighted with this discovery, with which we’ve again done justice to our specialist field. It’s quite rare for a new work to be attributed to Van Gogh. We’re proud to be able to share this early drawing and its story with visitors to our museum.”

The Van Gogh Museum got a hold of the 9″ x 12″ sketch drawing after a Dutch family requested that specialists take a look at their unsigned drawing, which staff then formally recognised as an official Van Gogh drawing. 

Teio Meedendorp, senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum also added that, “In stylistic terms, it slots perfectly into the many figure studies we know from Van Gogh’s time in The Hague and the connection with Worn Out is obvious.” 

Experts have pinpointed that the exact time the drawing was created by the artist to be at the end of November in 1882, when the artist was just 29 years old. It was during that time when Van Gogh wrote in his letters to his brother Theo and artist Anthon van Rappard about the development of Worn Out.

Meedendorp continued to explain that, “The artist began by drawing a grid on the paper, which tells us that he worked with a perspective frame to help him capture a figure quickly with the correct proportions. He then worked the sheet up in his characteristically expressive drawing style: not refined, but with energetic scratches and strokes and laying down contours, in search of a pithy image with special attention to effects of light and shade.” 

The drawing also features materials Van Gogh used in his other drawings, such as a carpenter's pencil, thick watercolor paper, and a fixative of water and milk.

Study for Worn Out will be on display on the first floor of the Van Gogh Museum‘s permanent collection until January 2, 2022.