Arles, 1888

The record dates Paul Gauguin's Armchair to 1888, the Arles year, and names another painter in the title. The catalogue also holds Paul Gauguin (Man in a Red Beret), dated 1888, and Self Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin, also 1888. Three works from one year name the same person; nothing before 1888 names him at all.

What the record gives

The canvas is 90.5 x 72.5 cm and is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The measured palette resolves to green as the single dominant family, unusual for a year in which yellow leads in 93 of 135 works.

The companion picture, and its date

A second chair painting is catalogued here as Van Gogh's Chair, held by the National Gallery in London. The record dates that one 1889, not 1888, and this catalogue reports the date it has rather than harmonising the pair. The two are usually spoken of as a matched set painted together; the record as it stands here puts them in different years and different collections, and a reader is entitled to see that discrepancy rather than have it quietly resolved.