Portrait of Père Tanguy

Portrait of Père Tanguy, painted in 1887 and now at the Musée Rodin in Paris, depicts Julien Tanguy — 'Père Tanguy' — the paint-supply dealer who was one of the most important figures in supporting the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist generation. Tanguy accepted paintings in exchange for artist's supplies, accumulating works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gaugin, and others when no one else would buy them, and his shop became an informal gallery and meeting place for the avant-garde. Van Gogh painted him twice, both times against a background of Japanese woodblock prints from Tanguy's collection — a visual declaration of the cultural program that united these artists. The background prints identify Tanguy as a facilitator of the Japoniste revolution.

The composition places Tanguy's solidly built, benign figure against a wall covered with Japanese woodblock prints — his own body forming a warm, central mass surrounded by the colorful, flat imagery of the prints. Van Gogh renders the Japanese prints with care and specificity, identifying them as actual works. His handling of Tanguy's face and figure combines psychological warmth with his mature Divisionist-influenced technique. The result is both a portrait and a statement about the cultural world the subject inhabited.