The Smoker (Le Fumeur)

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FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

During his stay in Arles, a town in the South of France, Van Gogh often painted the local farm workers, whose simple lifestyle he admired and idealized. Van Gogh captures the humble coat of this man in loose, muddy strokes; ruddy cheeks suggest his work outdoors. A few horizontal dashes indicate puffs of smoke, and thick, unblended marks describe an ear. Despite these moments of near abstraction, Van Gogh maintains an astounding attention to naturalistic detail, working to portray to the way a person really looks and behaves. Note how the man's mouth is slightly clenched to hold the pipe.

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