"The Van Gogh Museum had been searching for the piece for a long time, according to its curator of paintings Lisa Smit. Van Gogh had seen Demont-Breton's painting, which was made in between 1887 and 1889, reproduced in black and white in a magazine about French salon paintings and he was so inspired by it that he copied it. It is one of the only paintings by a woman artist that he is known to have emulated."
"The realistic painting depicts a mother sitting by a fireplace, gazing pensively as her young baby sleeps on her lap. Fish netting, which the woman would have been working on making, is visible in the composition, suggesting the domestic labor and maternal care depicted in the work."
"The sale of the monumental portrait of a woman holding a child, titled L'homme est en mer (The man is at sea), was made on the opening day of TEFAF Maastricht at the booth of Gallery 19C, from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The painting had been held in a private collection for the last 20 years."
The Van Gogh Museum purchased L'homme est en mer by French artist Virginie Demont-Breton at TEFAF Maastricht, marking only the third work by a woman in the museum's collection. The painting, created between 1887 and 1889, depicts a mother with her sleeping child by a fireplace, with fish netting visible in the composition. Van Gogh encountered a black and white reproduction in a French salon magazine and was so inspired that he created his own copy, making it one of the few paintings by a woman artist he is known to have emulated. The work had remained in a private Dallas collection for 20 years before acquisition. Museum curators actively sourced the piece through Gallery 19C owner Eric Weider, and the private collectors agreed to the sale on the condition it enter a public institution.
Read at Artnet News
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