The Diggers

Vincent van Gogh Dutch, 1853-1890
On View

in

Modern, Level 2, Central Wing

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About the Artwork

The Diggers

1889

Vincent van Gogh

1853-1890

Dutch

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Oil on paper lined onto canvas

Unframed: 25 5/8 × 19 3/4 inches (65.1 × 50.2 cm) Framed: 35 5/8 × 29 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches (90.5 × 75.6 × 6.4 cm)

Paintings

European Modern Art to 1970

Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill

70.158

Public Domain

Markings

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Provenance

Johanna van Gogh-Bonger [1862-1925] (Amsterdam, Netherlands);
April 1907, purchased by (Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, France);
1907, Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany);
by 1912, Hugo Nathan (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany);
by 1938, Mrs. Hugo Nathan (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany);
(J.K. Thannhauser Gallery, New York, New York, USA);
1941, (Wildenstein & Co., New York, New York, USA);
1941-1969, Robert H. Tannahill [1893-1939] (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA);
1970-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum. Amsterdam, 1905, cat. 438. [as Spitters in het bosch.]

Exh. cat., Paul Cassirer Gallery, Hamburg, 1905, no. 40. [as Feldarbeiter.]

Sales cat., Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Paris, 1906, no. 88. [as Bêcheurs et arbres.]

Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung. Exh. cat., Städtische Ausstellungshalle. Cologne, 1912, cat. 51. [as Die beiden Grabenden, Collection Hugo Nathan.]

Frankfurter Kunstschätze. Exh. cat., Frankfurter Kunstverein. Frankfurt, 1913, p. 11, cat. 28 (ill.). [as Die beiden Feldarbeiter, Collection Hugo Nathan.]

Swarzenski, Georg. "Die Sammlung Hugo Nathan." Kunst und Künstler 15 (December 1916): pp. 114-115 (ill.).

Faille, J. B. de la. L'oeuvre de Van Gogh: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris, 1928, vol. 1, p. 200; no. 701, vol. 2, pl. CXCVIII.

Leblond, M.-A. Peintres de Races. Brussels, 1910, p. 15 (ill.).

Vincent van Gogh en zijn tijdgenooten. Exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum. Amsterdam, 1930, cat. 99 (ill.).

Huyghe, R. "Les origines de la peinture contemporaine." Histoire de l'art contemporain: La peinture. Paris, 1935, pp. 112-113, pl. 11.

Scherjon, W., and J. de Gruyter. Van Gogh's Great Period: Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers Sur Oise. Amsterdam, 1937, p. 356, no. 184 (ill.).

Faille, J.B. Vincent van Gogh, Paris, 1939, p. 497, no. 721. [executed in April 1890 – as in Frankfurt-am-Main, Collection Mrs. Hugo Nathan.]

Goldscheider, L. and W. Uhde. Vincent van Gogh, 1947, London, pl .107. [dated April 1890 and stated to be in a private collection in Switzerland.] earlier edition: London, 1941, pl. 107. [as Frankfurt-am-Main, Collection Mrs. Hugo Nathan.]

Novotny, F. "Die Bilder van Goghs nach fremden Vorbildern." Festschrift Kurt Badt. Berlin, 1961, pp. 213-230.

Faille, J.B. de la. The Works of Vincent Van Gogh, 3rd ed. New York, 1970, p. 274, no. F701 (ill.).

The Robert Hudson Tannahill Bequest to The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1970, pp. 27, 34 (ill.).

Lecaldano, P. L'Opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh. Milan, 1971, vol. 2, pp, 222, 224, no. 731 (ill.).

Hulsker, J. The Complete Van Gogh. New York, 1984, p. 425, no. 1847 (ill.).

Barrielle, J.F. La vie et l'oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh. Paris, 1984, p. 161 (ill.).

Kodera, T. "'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread': Diggers in the oeuvre of Van Gogh." Van Gogh in Brabant. Exh. cat., Noordbrabants Museum. 's-Hertogenbosch, 1987, pp. 59-71, pp. 62, 66, 69, 70, note 16 (fig. 61). [as from the Spring of 1890.]

Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Art. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ibaraki 1989, pp. 98,175, 222, cat. 66 (ill.). [dated ca.1889-90.]

Feilchenfeldt, W. Vincent van Gogh & Paul Cassirer, Berlin. Zwolle, 1988, p. 114, no. F701 (ill.).

Van Gogh and Millet. Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 1988, p. 23 (ill.). [In catalog but not included in exhibition.]

Kodera, T. Vincent Van Gogh: Christianity Versus Nature. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 1990, pp. 74, 78 (fig. 109), pl. 5.

Hulsker, J. The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 1996, p. 425, no. 1847 (ill.). [as November-December, 1889.]

Message 1995. Exh. cat., Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. Toyota, 1995, pp. 62, 204, cat. 16 (ill.).

Walther, I.F. and R. Metzger. Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Paintings, Cologne, 1997, p. 606 (ill.). [as dated March/April 1890.]

Millet / Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1998, pp. 62, 162, cat. 22 (ill.).

Degas to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., the Phillips Collection. Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 88-89, 139 (ill.).

Wissman, F.W. European Vistas: Cultural Landscapes. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2000, pp. 30-31 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 77, no. 3/4 (2003): p. 8 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Vincent van Gogh, The Diggers, 1889, oil on paper lined onto canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.158.

The Diggers
The Diggers