page_title: Early works of Vincent van Gogh
section_title: 1882
hierarchical_section_title: Early works of Vincent van Gogh / The works / 1882
caption_attribution_description: Español: Pintura estancia en La Haya. Este es uno de los cuadros que marcan el inicio de Van Gogh como pintor
context_page_description: The early works of Vincent van Gogh comprise a group of paintings and drawings that Vincent van Gogh made when he was 27 and 28, in 1881 and 1882, his first two years of serious artistic exploration. Over the course of the two-year period Van Gogh lived in several places. He left Brussels, where he had studied for about a year in 1881, to return to his parents’ home in Etten, where he made studies of some of the residents of the town. In January 1882 Van Gogh went to The Hague where he studied with his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve and set up a studio, funded by Mauve. During the ten years of Van Gogh's artistic career from 1881 to 1890 Vincent's brother Theo would be a continuing source of inspiration and financial support; his first financial support began in 1880 funding Vincent while he lived in Brussels.
  In 1882 Van Gogh had an offer for a commission of paintings of The Hague however the paintings, now considered masterpieces, were not acceptable. Van Gogh started out primarily drawing and painting with watercolor. Under Mauve's tutelage Van Gogh began painting with oils in 1882.
context_section_description: On a blustery day, Van Gogh set up his easel and painted "plein-air" (in the open air) at a beach resort, Scheveningen, near The Hague to paint View of the Sea at Scheveningen (F4). While Impressionists are often given credit for painting outdoors, they were not the first to do so.  Most, however, made sketches on the spot and worked on the painting in a studio.  In this case, Van Gogh struggled with the strong wind which sent grains of sand into his thickly applied paint.  Although most of the sand was scraped off, there are still a few grains of sand enmeshed in the layers of paint.  The tumultuous weather is well depicted with white-capped seas, threatening sky and wind-blown flags.  This painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in December 2002 and discovered in Naples, Italy in September 2016.
  Of a study that Van Gogh made for Girl in a Wood or Girl in White in the Woods, (F8) he remarked at how much he enjoyed the work and explains how he wishes to trigger the audience's senses and how they may experience the painting: "The other study in the wood is of some large green beech trunks on a stretch of ground covered with dry sticks, and the little figure of a girl in white. There was the great difficulty of keeping it clear, and of getting space between the trunks standing at different distances - and the place and relative bulk of those trunks change with the perspective - to make it so that one can breathe and walk around in it, and to make you smell the fragrance of the wood."
  In The Girl in the Woods (F8a) the girl is overshadowed by the immense oak trees.  The painting may be reminiscent for Van Gogh of the times in his youth he fled to the Zundert Woods to escape from his family.
  In November 1882 Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class, Worn Out was one of the series.  The works were drawn in a black in an angular style. On November 24, 1882 Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo of Adrianus Zuyderland, the man who posed for Worn Out (F997), "What a fine sight an old working man makes, in his patched bombazine suit with his bald head".  Zuyderland was resident of the Dutch Protestant Almshouse for Old Men and Women. Van Gogh would offer a small payment for residents who would pose for him.  On his pencil drawings, Van Gogh used milk as a fixative to counteract the graphite pencil shine and left the image "velvety black".  While it was recommended to use an atomizer to control the amount of milk placed on the work, Van Gogh would pour an entire glass of milk on the work.  In this drawing there is a noticeable stain around the drawing where the puddle of milk dried.  Worn Out is not displayed on this page, but can be found on the Van Gogh Museum website.
  Unlike the character studies Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in November 1882 that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok (F993), a street bookseller who was sometimes called "Binnenhof's outdoor librarian".  The work was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk. At this time it was rare for Van Gogh to use color, as he found it difficult to work with.
caption: Girl in White in the Woods
  1882
  Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands (F8)
exif: {}