Description
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux is the portrait Vincent van Gogh painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in June 1890 of the innkeeper’s daughter in whose house he lodged: a girl seen in profile, seated and facing right, her fair hair tied with a pale ribbon, in a dark blue dress with a row of buttons, her hands folded in her lap, against a deep blue background of short horizontal strokes. The original, oil on canvas, measures 67 x 55 cm and is in a private collection in Switzerland. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 30 x 40 to 120 x 150 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Portrait of Adeline Ravoux |
| Other titles: | Adeline Ravoux · Portrait d’Adeline Ravoux |
| Painter: | Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) |
| Year painted: | June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise |
| Original size: | 67 cm x 55 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Post-Impressionism |
| Located at: | Private collection, Switzerland |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 17 sizes or made to measure |
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux – Vincent van Gogh
What does Portrait of Adeline Ravoux show?
A young girl sits on a chair in strict profile, turned to our right, seen from the top of her head down to her lap. Her fair hair, painted in curling strokes of yellow and ochre, is drawn back from her forehead and gathered at the back with a large pale blue-green ribbon, and below the bow it falls down her back. Her cheek is flushed pink, and a high collar in pale blue and white frames her throat.
Her dress is dark blue, modelled with lighter blue strokes that follow the folds of the sleeve and the back. A row of small pale buttons runs down the front of the bodice. At the bottom right her hands lie folded in her lap, light against the dark skirt. Behind her back, on the left, the top of the chair shows as a patch of orange. The whole background is a deep blue of short horizontal strokes laid side by side. At the bottom left Van Gogh signed it ‘Vincent’ in red.
What did Van Gogh write about this portrait of Adeline?
In his letter to Theo of 24 June 1890, written in Auvers-sur-Oise, he says: ‘This week I’ve done a portrait of a young girl of 16 or so, in blue against a blue background, the daughter of the people where I’m lodging. I gave her that portrait but I’ve done a variant for you, a no. 15 canvas.’
The editors of the letters connect this passage with two portraits of Adeline: this one, catalogued as F 768, and a second seated portrait, F 769, which measures 71.5 x 53 cm, is painted on a canvas of the French standard size no. 15, and did come into Theo’s possession. They also correct his guess at her age: they give 13, not 16; she was in fact 12, nearly 13.
Who was Adeline Ravoux?
She was the eldest daughter of the innkeepers with whom Van Gogh lived in his last weeks. Italian Wikipedia gives her parents as Arthur-Gustave Ravoux, a wine merchant, and Adeline Touillet, and writes that Van Gogh took a room at their inn in Auvers-sur-Oise when he came back from the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Adeline Charlotte Ravoux was born on 20 November 1877 in Rueil and died in 1965 in Martin-Église.
The editors of the letters note that 63 years after the sitting she wrote about posing for Van Gogh.
Where is the original today?
The original is in a private collection in Switzerland, according to Italian Wikipedia. It is oil on canvas, 67 cm high and 55 cm wide, and in the catalogues of Van Gogh’s work it carries the numbers F 768 and JH 2035. Its owner is not public.
As the original is privately owned, a copy painted by hand brings this girl in blue to your own wall.
Which portrait of Adeline is which, and which Van Gogh should you choose?
Van Gogh painted Adeline three times in June 1890. This is the seated profile, 67 x 55 cm. The second seated profile, F 769, is a little taller and narrower, the no. 15 canvas mentioned in his letter. The third portrait, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, is a different composition, the subject of the English Wikipedia article on the Cleveland portrait of Adeline Ravoux.
Its closest companions in our range were all painted in Auvers in 1890. Portrait of Dr. Gachet shows the doctor who looked after Van Gogh in Auvers, sitting at a table with his head resting on his hand. The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise shows the village church under a deep blue sky. White House at Night is a white house among trees with a bright star in the evening sky, and Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat is a young woman in a straw hat in front of a field of wheat.
Choose Adeline for a quiet portrait in blues, Dr. Gachet for a seated man, the church or the white house for a building, and the peasant woman for a figure against the fields.
How is our hand-painted Portrait of Adeline Ravoux made?
The painter first sketches the profile, the line of the back and the hands, and checks the proportions against the original. Then comes the deep blue background in short horizontal strokes, after it the dress with its lighter blue folds and the row of buttons, then the orange chair back, the hands and the collar, and last the face, the pink cheek, the curling hair and the ribbon. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.
On our version the relief shows most in the rows of strokes in the background, in the curls of the hair and in the folds of the sleeve. A print is completely flat; on our painting every brushstroke stands out in real paint.
Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.
Which size for which wall?
Short answer: 30 x 40 or 40 x 50 cm for a narrow wall in a hallway or beside a door, 54 x 65 or 63 x 80 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, and 90 x 108 or 100 x 120 cm above a sofa or on a large wall.
There are 17 sizes: 30 x 40, 40 x 47, 40 x 50, 41 x 51, 50 x 61, 50 x 62, 54 x 65, 60 x 70, 63 x 80, 70 x 85, 73 x 95, 80 x 100, 90 x 108, 93 x 115, 100 x 120, 105 x 125 and 120 x 150 cm (width x height), all upright like the original. The original is 55 cm wide and 67 cm high, so our 54 x 65 cm size is almost exactly its size, and 41 x 51, 80 x 100 and 120 x 150 cm stay close to its proportions. The deep blues look best on a white, cream or light grey wall. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.
What if I need a custom size or a frame?
If none of the 17 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure in any width and height you need. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.
Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A gold frame picks up the fair hair and the orange chair back, while a black or dark wood one deepens the blues of the dress and the background.
How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve. Our returns policy applies to every order.
You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If it is a present and you are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original Portrait of Adeline Ravoux today?
In a private collection in Switzerland, according to Italian Wikipedia. This is the seated profile, oil on canvas, 67 x 55 cm, catalogued as F 768. A different portrait of Adeline from the same month, June 1890, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and a second seated profile came into the possession of Van Gogh’s brother Theo.
When did Van Gogh paint the Portrait of Adeline Ravoux?
In June 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, a few weeks before his death. On 24 June 1890 he wrote to his brother Theo that he had painted the portrait of a young girl, the daughter of the people where he was lodging, ‘this week’, which places it in the second half of June.
How old was Adeline Ravoux when Van Gogh painted her?
She was 12, nearly 13. Van Gogh guessed higher: in his letter to Theo he calls her ‘a young girl of 16 or so’. The editors of his letters give her age as 13, and Italian Wikipedia gives her birth date as 20 November 1877.
How many versions of the Portrait of Adeline Ravoux are there?
Three, all from June 1890. Two show her seated in profile: this canvas, 67 x 55 cm, catalogued as F 768, and F 769, 71.5 x 53 cm, the no. 15 canvas that came into Theo’s possession. The third, a different version, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Ours is painted after F 768, the profile with the orange chair back.
Is the Portrait of Adeline Ravoux in the film Loving Vincent?
Yes. Italian Wikipedia writes that the painting comes to life in Loving Vincent, the 2017 film by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. In 2010 the same portrait also inspired a novel by Marie Sellier, Journal d’Adeline: un été avec Van Gogh, about a summer with the painter.
How big is the original Portrait of Adeline Ravoux?
67 cm high and 55 cm wide, an upright format of medium size. Our 54 x 65 cm size is almost exactly the size of the original. There are 17 sizes from 30 x 40 to 120 x 150 cm, and we also paint it to measure.
Which size of Portrait of Adeline Ravoux suits a living room?
Above a sofa, choose 90 x 108 or 100 x 120 cm, so that the canvas painting holds its own against the width of the sofa and the profile reads clearly from across the room. On a narrower wall or above a sideboard, 54 x 65 or 63 x 80 cm works well. For a very large wall, choose our largest size, 120 x 150 cm.
Does your Portrait of Adeline Ravoux have the raised brushstrokes of the original?
Yes. We paint Adeline in impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original. You see it best in the short horizontal strokes of the blue background, in the curls of her hair and in the folds of the dress, where the relief catches the light from the side.
- Subject: a girl of 12, nearly 13, in profile, seated and facing right, fair hair tied with a pale ribbon, a dark blue dress with buttons, hands folded, an orange chair back and a deep blue background.
- Original: June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, oil on canvas, 67 x 55 cm, private collection, Switzerland; one of three portraits of Adeline.
- Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 30 x 40 to 120 x 150 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: each painting is made to order, so allow 15 to 45 days, and our 3D app lets you try every frame on this painting before you order.
