AMSTERDAM.- Extensive research on two relatively unknown female portraits in the Van Gogh Museum’s collection has proved that they are indeed by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The two portraits were originally attributed to Van Gogh and dated to his periods in Antwerp (1885-1886) or Paris (1886-1888). But over the years the attribution was thrown into doubt because the two portraits are painted in a style that is unusual for Van Gogh. The Van Gogh Museum, Partner in Science Shell and The Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage have subjected the two female portraits to detailed examination. The results of this multi-disciplinary research can be viewed from today through 20 September 2009 in the exhibition Van Gogh? An examination of two female portraits.

Style - The two portraits are painted in a conventional style that was extremely widely used in the late 19th century. Consequently they are not immediately recognizable as ‘real Van Goghs’. Van Gogh is not known to have painted any other female portraits in a comparable style and format. For this reason various experts were of the opinion that the portraits could not have been executed by Van Gogh, but were the work of one of his contemporaries. The recently completed research has shown this assumption to be unfounded. The conventional style in which the portraits are painted does have precedents in Van Gogh’s oeuvre. A self portrait and the painting Nude girl sitting, both from 1886, are two examples. In their use of colour and painting technique they display similarities to the female portraits. The self portrait and the study of the naked girl were painted by Van Gogh during the period he studied under the painter Fernand Cormon in the spring of 1886. It was there that Van Gogh attempted to perfect the conventional painting style.

Material and technique Because of the comparable style, the two female portraits were closely examined and compared with the self portrait and Nude girl sitting. The stretchers are so similar that it may be assumed that they came from the same manufacturer. Significantly, the verso of one of the female portraits bears the stamp of a paint merchant located around the corner from the apartment where the Van Gogh brothers lived at that time.

Paint samples were taken from each painting. These miniscule slithers of paint were examined under a research microscope able to magnify up to 1000 times. The samples were also examined using the SEM-EDX technique (a scanning electron microscope). This technique has proven that the paint samples from the paintings are virtually identical: again and again examination yielded the same complex mixture of pigments in the darker patches of paint.

The combined weight of all this evidence offers convincing grounds for the re-attribution of these two female portraits to Van Gogh. The identity of the woman depicted still remains a mystery.

The Van Gogh Museum and Shell Nederland B.V. have been official Partners in Science for many years. The partnership provides for academic and technical/scientific research into Van Gogh’s paintings until 2010. To this end Shell Research & Technology Centre supplies expertise and equipment. The research conducted by Shell in cooperation with The Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage has yielded a great deal of valuable information about the chemical make-up of the materials Van Gogh used.