AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum acquired the painting L’homme est en mer (1887–1889) by French artist Virginie Demont-Breton (1859–1935) at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht. The painting was acquired with the support from the VriendenLoterij. This monumental painting is a significant addition to the museum's collection, as Vincent van Gogh knew a print after the work, which he copied in 1889. The acquisition is also a first for the Netherlands: there is no other work by Demont-Breton in a Dutch public collection.

The painting depicts a fisherwoman sitting by the fire with her sleeping baby on her lap. She gazes into the flames with a weary, wistful expression as her husband is at sea. L’homme est en mer received widespread acclaim when it was shown at the Paris Salon in 1889. The work was acquired by an American collector shortly thereafter. Now, more than a century later, it is part of the Dutch national collection.

Van Gogh and his sources of inspiration

Vincent van Gogh knew the painting from a print published in the illustrated magazine Le Monde Illustré in 1889. While Van Gogh was in Saint-Rémy he created a series of paintings based on black-and-white reproductions of artworks that inspired him. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo that he greatly admired this print. He even painted his own interpretation of L’homme est en mer, which is now in a private collection.

With this acquisition, the Van Gogh Museum can now demonstrate how Van Gogh drew inspiration from images in illustrated magazines and how he translated these into his own paintings. ‘We've searched for this painting for a long time, and we are thrilled that it is now part of our collection’, says Emilie Gordenker, Director of the Van Gogh Museum. ‘It is also marvelous that this important female artist is now represented in a Dutch museum.’

Lisa Smit, curator of paintings: ‘Virginie Demont-Breton depicts motherhood in a way that moves me and seems entirely contemporary even now.’

Virginie Demont-Breton

Virginie Demont-Breton was an internationally successful artist at the end of the nineteenth century. She exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon and received prestigious awards, including the Légion d'honneur. She often presented a monumental and dignified depiction of women from everyday life, such as fisherwomen and peasant women.

Demont-Breton was also a leading advocate for female artists. As president of the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs (Union of Women Painters and Sculptors) she opened the doors for women to be admitted to the Académie des beaux-arts.

The painting will be presented in the Van Gogh Museum's permanent collection, where it will be displayed alongside works by the artists Van Gogh that admired, such as Jean-François Millet, Jules Dalou, and Demont-Breton’s father, Jules Breton.

The painting was purchased at TEFAF Maastricht from Gallery 19C with the support from the VriendenLoterij.