Vincent van Gogh drawings - part 1

Two Self-Portraits and Several Details 1886 
pencil, pen and ink 31.1 x 24.4 cm

Generally overshadowed by the fame and familiarity of his paintings, Vincent van Gogh's more than 1,100 drawings remain comparatively unknown, although they are among his most ingenious and striking creations. Van Gogh engaged drawing and painting in a rich dialogue, which enabled him to fully realise the creative potential of both means of expression.

Largely self-taught, Van Gogh believed that drawing was "the root of everything." His reasons for drawing were numerous. At the outset of his career, he felt it necessary to master black and white before attempting to work in colour. Thus, drawings formed an inextricable part of his development as a painter. There were periods when he wished to do nothing but draw. Sometimes, it was a question of economics: the materials he needed to create his drawings—paper and ink purchased at nearby shops, and pens he himself cut with a penknife from locally grown reeds—were cheap, whereas costly paints and canvases had to be ordered and shipped from Paris. When the fierce mistral winds made it impossible for him to set up an easel, he found he could draw on sheets of paper tacked securely to board.

Van Gogh used drawing to practice interesting subjects or to capture an on-the-spot impression, to tackle a motif before venturing it on canvas, and to prepare a composition. Yet, more often than not, he reversed the process by making drawings after his paintings to give his brother and his friends an idea of his latest work. Van Gogh produced most of his greatest drawings and watercolours during the little more than two years he spent working in Provence.

This is part 1 of a 5-part post on the drawings of Vincent van Gogh:

1873 Old Woman Asleep after Rops

1876 Vicarage and Church at Etten 
pencil on paper

1878 “Au Charbonnage” Café

1880-1 French Peasant Woman Suckling Her Baby (after Dalou - see below ) 
pencil and wash

1873 Peasant Woman with her Child by Aime Jules Dalou 
terracotta 125 cm high

1881 A Digger 
pencil, black chalk, watercolour 62.1 x 47.1 cm

1881 A Girl Raking 
black chalk, watercolour 58 x 46 cm

1881 A Man with a Broom 
black chalk, watercolour 55 x 27.5 cm

1881 A Marsh 
pencil and ink 42.5 x 56.5 cm

1881 A Sower ( after Millet - see below ) 
pencil, ink and wash 61 x 40 cm

1850 Jean-François Millet "The Sower"
oil on canvas 105 x 86 cm

1881 An Old Man Putting Dry Rice on the Hearth 
pencil, black chalk, watercolour 56 x 45 cm

1881 Barn with Moss-Covered Roof 
pencil and ink 47.3 x 62 cm

1881 Daughter of Jacob Meyer 
pencil

1881 Digger 
black chalk

1881 Farmer Sitting at the Fireside and Reading 
pencil and watercolour

1881 Man Putting Potatoes in a Sack 
ink

1881 Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, the Artist's Grandfather 
pencil, brush and ink heightened with opaque white

1881 Road with Pollarded Willows and a Man with a Broom 
black chalk, ink and watercolour 39.5 x 60.5 cm

1881 The Evening Prayer ( after Millet - see below ) 
pencil, ink and watercolour 47 x 62 cm

1857-59 The Angelus ( aka Evening Prayer ) by Jean-François Millet 
oil on canvas 55.5 x 66 cm

1881 The Garden of the Parsonage with Arbour 
pencil, ink and watercolour 44.5 x 56.5 cm

1881 Woman Sewing 
black chalk and watercolour 62.5 x 47.5 cm

1881 Worn Out 
pencil, ink and watercolour 23.4 x 31.2 cm

1882 Carpenter's Workshop, Seen from the Artist's Studio 
pencil, pen and brush, heightened with opaque white 28.5 x 47 cm

1882 Man and Woman Seen from the Back 
pencil

1882 Man with Pipe and Eye Bandage 
pencil, black chalk, wash, heightened with opaque white

1882 Man with Top Hat 
pencil and black chalk

1882 Nursery on Schenkweg 
pencil, pen, black chalk, heightened with opaque white 29.5 x 58.5 cm

1882 Old Man Reading 
pencil and wash

1882 Old Man in a Tail-coat 
pencil

1882 Old Man in a Tail-coat 
pencil

1882 Old Man with a Stick 
pencil

1882 Old Woman with a Shawl and a Walking-Stick 
pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on paper

1882 Orphan Man with Cap, Seen from the Back 
pencil and black chalk

1882 Orphan Man with Top Hat 
charcoal and crayon on paper

1882 Sien's Mother's House Seen from the Backyard 
pencil, pen and ink, heightened with opaque white 29 x 45.5 cm

1882 Sorrow black 
chalk 44.5 x 27 cm

1882 Sorrow 
pencil and wash on paper 28 x 44 cm

1882 Study of a Tree 
pencil, ink, black chalk and watercolour

1882 The Bench 
pencil, pen and ink on paper 27.9 x 36.2 cm

1882 The Houses on Schenkweg ( where Van Gogh lived ) 
pencil, black chalk and sepia

1882 The Sower 
pencil, brush and ink on paper

1882 View of Scheveningen 
pencil and watercolour