Alone
Jozef Israëls (1824 - 1911), c. 1880-1881
oil on canvas, 125 cm x 200 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
It is not easy to depict sorrow, but Jozef Israëls succeeded in conveying it. The man in the painting is utterly shattered. Behind him in the half-light is the body of his wife; the colour of her skin is nearly indistinguishable from the grey of the bedclothes.
Israëls painted primarily scenes of the life of simple peasants or fishermen. Sometimes, as here, he focused on the more tragic moments. In his diary he wrote that he had discussed the anecdotal aspect of this work of art with Sientje Mesdag. She believed that art did not have to tell a story. Israëls disagreed strongly, and remarked: ‘A “felt’’ work is good, even if badly delineated.’
- Object number
- hwm0154
- Dimensions
- 125 cm x 200 cm, 170 cm x 245 cm, 18 cm
- Provenance
- Kunsthandel Frans Buffa & Zonen; J.G. van der Schaaff; auction Amsterdam, Van Pappelendam & Schouten (Tableaux et Aquarelles Modernes (…) formant les collections de feu M. H-J. van der Niepoort et de M. J.- G. van der Schaaff), lot 26 (Plus rien!), purchased by Goupil & Cie, The Hague for NLG 6950, 6 April 1886; sold by Boussod, Valadon & Cie, The Hague (no. 17789, Seul au monde) to Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague for NLG 10,000, 10 September 1887; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- Jozef Israëls
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Groningen (city), Groninger Museum, Jozef Israëls: meester van het sentiment, 19 December 1999-5 March 2000
Alting van Geusau, Sylvia, Jonkman, Mayken, Vergeest, Aukje, Schoonheid te koop : Kunsthandel Frans Buffa & Zonen 1790-1951, Zwolle, 2016, p. 84
Heugten, Sjraar van, Van Gogh in Provence : modernizing tradition, Arles, 2016, p. 30-31
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 61, 71
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 61, 71
Gual, Malén, Jiménez, R., Tió, M., Ciencia y caridad : al descubierto, Barcelona, 2010, p. 94, 140
Dirven, Ron, Klarenbeek, H., Bodt, Saskia de, Schilders van Dongen, Schiedam, 2008, p. 68
Tan, FIona, Provenance, Amsterdam, 2008, p. 31
Bodt, Saskia de, Isaac Israels : Hollands impressionist, Schiedam ; Rotterdam, 1999, p. 37-38
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 234-236, 359
Dekkers, Diewertje, Jozef Israels, een succesvol schilder van het vissersgenre, [Utrecht, 1993], p. 152-153, 170, 179, 181-183, 191, 346-347, 348-350 429
Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : een selectie uit de verzameling, p. 11
Dumas, Charles, Leeuw, Ronald de, Sillevis, John, De Haagse School : Hollandse meesters van de 19e eeuw, Den Haag ; Parijs ; Londen, 1983, p. 20
Leeman, Fred, La scuola dell'Aia o l'ombra del successo, p. 367