Vincent van Gogh ֍ Head of a Woman (1885)
During his stay in Antwerp, Van Gogh went in search of models for portraits. He hoped to profile himself as a modern painter of contemporary urban life. He was particularly interested in the working population. This woman was one of them. She may have worked in a café and, like many poor women, was forced to earn extra money at night as a prostitute.
On the woman's face we see the traces of the hard work. But Van Gogh also wanted to show the beauty of this woman. In this kind of 'studies of heads', Van Gogh did not seek the individual resemblance, but rather the representation of a type. With coarse brushstrokes he painted the face and the long loose hair of the woman. He has succeeded in bringing volume and life to it. In another painting he probably depicted the same woman.
