Portrait of a Woman

This portrait of an unidentified woman from 1886 belongs to Van Gogh's earliest Paris period, when his palette was shifting but had not yet fully embraced the bright chromaticism he would develop by 1887. Women workers and café employees appear throughout his Dutch and early Paris works, depicted with a social attentiveness rooted in his earlier work among miners and peasants. The model is presented straightforwardly and without idealization, her face rendered with the same direct attention Van Gogh gave to laboring men and women throughout his career. The work is held at the Van Gogh Museum as part of its comprehensive holdings of his Paris-period output.

The palette here reflects the transitional moment of early 1886, still carrying the somber northern tones of his Dutch period while beginning to open toward lighter Impressionist values. The handling of the face is competent but not yet adventurous.