Portrait of a Man with a Pipe (Dr. Paul Gachet, 1828-1909)

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Portrait of a Man with a Pipe (Dr. Paul Gachet, 1828-1909)

Artist Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)

Date1890

DimensionsOverall: 7 1/8 x 5 7/8 in. (18.1 x 14.9 cm)

MediumEtching

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineFrederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund

Object number

1940.98

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Published ReferencesSouth, Will, Van Gogh & His Inspirations, Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, 2019, p. 151, repr. (col.) p. 150.Exhibition HistoryDetroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI. 1962.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Painter Was a Printmaker, June 23 - Sept. 9, 1984.

Toledo Museum of Art, Strong Sensations: Impressionism and Symbolist Works on Paper, 1860-1900, April 23-June 20, 2010.

Toledo Museum of Art, Prints and Authors from the Time of Manet, September 13, 2012-January 13, 2013.

Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, Van Gogh and His Inspirations, October 4, 2019-January 12, 2020.

Label TextPaul Gachet (1828–1908) was a homeopathic physician in Auvers north of Paris whom van Gogh met in the last months of his life. An amateur artist himself, Dr. Gachet owned a printing press and, after lunch one day, invited van Gogh to make an etching. This portrait was the result and is van Gogh’s only etching. Van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil that his aim was to make “modern portraits … I don’t try to do us by means of photographic resemblance but by our passionate expression.” Van Gogh admired the prints of Félix Bracquemond and was inspired by his portrait of Edmond de Goncourt (on display nearby), calling it a “masterpiece.”