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
Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series) sadness. Both museum paintings were made on large canvas, 65 x 54 cm. "La Mousmé" also known as "La Mousmé, Sitting in a Cane Chair, Half-Figure (with a branch of oleander)" was painted Van Gogh in 1888 while living in Arles, which Van Gogh dubbed "the Japan of the south". Retreating from the city, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art. Inspired by Pierre Loti's novel "Madame Chrysanthème" and Japanese artwork, Vincent painted "La Mousmé," a well-dressed Japanese girl. He wrote in a letter to his brother: