Vincent van Gogh La Mousmé 1888 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington Chester Dale Collection

Portraiture, like landscape, was one of Van Gogh's artistic passions. During his two years in Paris he painted twenty-two portraits, and during a single year in Arles he produced forty-six. He is known to have said, "The only thing in painting that excites me to the depth of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else, is portraiture." He reveled in the exercise of trying to coax out personality, trying to understand another human being.

Given Van Gogh's compassionate character, it is not surprising that he was drawn to exploring another person's inner being, much as he did his own in self-portraits. His concern was for understanding others as well as himself. He did not paint official portraits commissioned (or requested) by others but chose his sitters based on a variety of reasons. Often, not able to pay for models, he asked friends to pose. In other cases he sought to create or find a model for a certain figure type, such as a Provençal local for La Mousmé. In a letter to Theo in July 1888 Van Gogh wrote, "Now if you know what a mousmé is...I have just painted one. It took me a whole week...but I had to reserve my energy to do the mousmé well. A mousmé is a Japanese girl -- Provençal in this case -- 12 to 14 years old."

Here is another example of Japanese influence: Van Gogh has taken a girl of Arles and treated her as an exotic flower, placing her half-length figure against a flat background of bright turquoise. He has chosen vibrant colors and lively patterns. Her dress, with its striped bodice of brilliant red and blue and full skirt of cobalt blue dotted with orange, almost has a life of its own. The composition is dynamic yet subtle in its interplay of curving human and inanimate forms. The girl is seated in a wicker chair whose arms echo the shape of her skirt; her own arm likewise follows the sweep of the chair arm. The striped fabric in the bodice is also reflected in the stripes of the chair. Colors as well as lines play against each other effectively, and the red ribbon in the girl's hair picks up the red in the bodice and skirt.

Van Gogh's colors and brushstrokes tend to be more expressive than realistic in this portrait. He used unusual greenish tints in the girl's left arm while describing her face with clear brushwork that gives a modeled effect. Her wide-open eyes suggest sincerity. This is a sympathetic portrayal of the slight awkwardness of a young girl on the verge of womanhood. The artist's psychological sensitivity makes it an affecting and engaging image.

The last nine months of Van Gogh's residence in Arles proved to be extraordinarily difficult. His friend Gauguin had joined him there in October 1888, but the relationship soon began to sour. This should have been foreseeable; the two men were like night and day. Gauguin was cynical; he was always theorizing on his philosophical and intellectual approach to art. Van Gogh, by contrast, had an almost childlike openness; he was emotional and romantic. The only thing the two seemed to have had in common was an intense, determined commitment to their own art and points of view.

What began as free, honest debates became increasingly strident. Van Gogh, who wanted artistic communality, was constantly trying to placate Gauguin, but to no avail. On Christmas Eve 1888 the men quarreled, after which Van Gogh cut off part of his ear, then supposedly went to a local bordello perhaps looking for Gauguin, whom he did not find and gave his ear to a prostitute named Rachel. This event was a traumatic one, and Van Gogh was hospitalized. Gauguin fled. He wanted nothing more to do with Van Gogh.

After his release from the hospital, Van Gogh became the object of ridicule and was treated brutally. In February 1889 the citizens of Arles had him committed to an asylum, where he remained for two months. Although he gradually recovered, he was a broken man. His confidence was gone, and he was afraid to live alone.

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