Road in Etten
1881
Medium
Chalk, pencil, pastel, watercolor. Underdrawing in pen and brown ink.
Dimensions
15 1/2 x 22 3/4 in. (39.4 x 57.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.774
Tags
About this artwork
This multi-media drawing represents Vincent van Gogh's early artistic development during his brief residence in Etten, where he lived with his parents in 1881 while pursuing his nascent artistic ambitions. The work combines chalk, pencil, pastel, and watercolor over pen and brown ink underdrawing, demonstrating Van Gogh's experimental approach to media and his determination to master the fundamentals of draftsmanship. The composition depicts a man with a broom sweeping a street lined with pollar...
About the Artist
Vincent van Gogh · 1853–1890
Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) stands as one of the most influential figures in Western art history, despite a career spanning merely a decade. Born in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands, to a Protestant pastor's family, van Gogh's path to artistic greatness was anything but conventional. His early adulthood saw him working as an art dealer for Goupil & Cie, a language teacher, and a fervent missiona...