Vincent van Gogh (Russell painting) Vincent van Gogh" (1887) and Paul Gauguin's "The Painter of Sunflowers" (1888). Van Gogh seems to have been particularly attached to Russell's portrait, which the Australian gifted to him as a mark of their friendship. The painting passed from Van Gogh to his brother Theo, then to their family, and is now in the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Russell was born into a wealthy engineering family in 1858 in Sydney, New South Wales. The family business, P.N. Russell & Co, was responsible for much of the city's 19th-century ironwork. Although Russell had a strong interest
Seine (Van Gogh series) renovations along the Seine provided some of artist's most cherished views. Prior to the renovation buildings crowded the Seine, which could only be reached at right angles from narrow streets. New bridges were built and existing ones rebuilt, without shops and other structures that previously sat on the bridges. The city benefited by more light and air and improved commerce. To celebrate the modern city, Impressionists painted the changing urban landscape. Many, including van Gogh, felt that the city "now dwarfed the individual." This was one of the key reasons for van Gogh's growing unease in Paris. The Seine (Latin: