L'Arlésienne

L'Arlésienne (second version), painted in January-February 1890 during Van Gogh's confinement at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and now at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, is one of the later replications of the celebrated 1888 portrait of Marie Ginoux. Van Gogh made five versions of the composition between 1888 and 1890, working from Gauguin's charcoal preparatory sketch when producing the later variants. The act of replying the composition at Saint-Rémy had a dual purpose: maintaining productivity during a period when he could not work outdoors, and developing the compositional idea through successive interpretations. The Saint-Rémy versions show subtle variations in color and handling that distinguish each from the others.

The Saint-Rémy version of this composition shows Van Gogh working from the earlier sketch with the freedom of familiarity — his handling is assured and characteristic, the figure rendered through his mature mark-making without the pressured urgency of the original one-hour sitting. Color choices may vary subtly from the 1888 version: different background hues or adjusted chromatic intensity. His composition maintains the essential structural elements while allowing his late Saint-Rémy palette to inflect the image with its characteristic vivid color contrasts.