Photo: Van Gogh Museum
Researcher Julia Engelmeier examined all of the artist’s known authentic signatures. It turned out that Van Gogh almost always signed his works with just his first name—“Vincent.” However, for him, a signature was not merely a way to indicate authorship, writes Finestresull’Arte.
His letters show that the artist was extremely critical of his own work. He viewed many paintings as experiments or preparation for future works and therefore did not consider it necessary to sign them.
Van Gogh did not begin signing his first paintings until 1884. After moving to Paris, his professional and commercial ambitions grew, and the number of signed works increased. He signed his paintings even more frequently after moving to Arles in 1888.
Most often, the signature appeared on works with which Van Gogh was particularly pleased, or on paintings intended as gifts. Among them are *The Potato Eaters* (1885), which the artist considered his first true masterpiece, and the famous *Sunflowers* (1889).
Sometimes the signature became part of the painting itself. While working on “Seascape near Le Saint-Marie-de-la-Mer” in 1888, Van Gogh was dissatisfied with the color scheme and added a red signature in the lower corner to introduce an additional pop of color into the predominantly green composition.
There is also a curious case: two signatures were discovered on the 1886 still life “Three Pairs of Shoes.” One was left by Van Gogh, and the second, in large letters, was added by the artist John Peter Russell, with whom he had exchanged the painting. Perhaps Russell found the original signature too inconspicuous.
Toward the end of his life, his signatures became increasingly rare. After his hospitalization in Saint-Rémy in 1889, Van Gogh practically stopped signing his paintings. In Auvers-sur-Oise, where he spent the last months of his life, the artist signed only one work—the 1890 portrait of Adeline Ravoux.
Research shows that for Van Gogh, a signature was a kind of assessment of his own work. Putting his name on a painting meant acknowledging that it was successful enough to be presented as a finished work, given as a gift, or preserved for posterity. Therefore, the 133 signatures are not merely marks of authorship, but a unique map of how the artist’s attitude toward his own work evolved.
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