The Diggers

1889

Vincent van Gogh Dutch, 1853-1890

On View

Modern, Level 2, Central Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

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.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

Title The Diggers

Artwork Date 1889

Artist Vincent van Gogh

Life Dates 1853-1890

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Dutch

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on paper lined onto canvas

Dimensions 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)

Classification Paintings

Department European Modern Art to 1970

Credit Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 70.158

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

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

Please note: This section is empty

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.

Suggest Feedback

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.).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback