Portrait of the Artist's Mother, October 1888

Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, 1853-1890
Oil on canvas
16 x 12-3/4 in. (40.6 x 32.4 cm)
Norton Simon Art Foundation
M.1968.32.P
© 2009 Norton Simon Art Foundation

On view

Van Gogh based this portrait on a black-and-white photograph of his mother. In a letter to his brother Theo, the artist reported, "I am doing a portrait of Mother for myself. I cannot stand the colorless photograph, and am trying to do one in a harmony of color, as I see her in my memory."