Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier), August 1888

Dutch, 1853-1890
Oil on canvas
25-1/4 x 21-1/2 in. (64.1 x 54.6 cm)
Norton Simon Art Foundation
M.1975.06.P
© 2009 Norton Simon Art Foundation

On view

This painting is a portrait of Patience Escalier, a gardener and shepherd. Van Gogh believed that this portrait was one of a small group that marked his break from the principles of Impressionism. Instead of using color to achieve a greater naturalism, van Gogh used color subjectively to express emotion. In two letters of August 1888, van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo: "I wanted to paint a little old peasant, who very much resembles our father in features. . . .Behind the head. . . I paint infinity, a plain background of the richest, most intense blue I can conceive, and by this single combination of the bright head against the rich blue background, I get a mysterious effect, like a star in the depths of an azure sky."