Visconti Van Gogh "The Novel Reader" Ballpoint Pen

“The Novel Reader” by Vincent Van Gogh is thought to have been created by the artist around mid-November 1888 in Arles, France. Today the artwork belongs to a private collection. The subject of this painting is rendered in an expressionistic style leading historians to believe that it was an experimental painting of Van Gogh’s. Typically, the artist would work from a model for his paintings, however, this figure was seemingly concocted from his imagination. An idea that another prominent painter, Paul Gaugin, encouraged. 

When it comes to the subject of the painting, it is worth noting that the book in the woman’s hands is very important and telling. At the time Van Gogh painted this masterpiece, it would have been known by viewers that the reader in the painting was holding a “modern” novel which was typically published as yellow-covered paperbacks. Van Gogh differed from most men of his time in thinking that women should be allowed to read modern novels to influence their thinking and worldview. Along with confirmation from the title of the piece, “The Novel Reader” the viewer can directly grasp onto an ideology that was important to the famous artist.