Marie Ginoux was the proprietress of the Café de la Gare, where Van Gogh lived in Arles between May and September 1888, before he moved into the nearby Yellow House. In early November, wearing the regional costume of the legendary dark-haired beauties of Arles, she posed for both Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh was thrilled to "have an Arlésienne at last" and quickly "slashed on in an hour" his first, more summarily executed version of this portrait (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), using the thick jute canvas that Gauguin had brought with him to Arles. Later Van Gogh enhanced that image by adorning the tabletop with two accessories befitting an Arlésienne: a parasol and gloves. Those finishing touches were probably added in December 1888 or January 1889, when he revisited the composition to use it as the prototype for the Museum's painting. Relying on more saturated and richly applied colors to add substance to the character of his sitter, and showing her seated at a table with books, Van Gogh made this more compelling portrait of his friend—which he gave to her.

the sitter, Arles (by 1889–95; gift of the artist; sold through Henri Laget on October 17, 1895 for Fr 60 to Vollard); [Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1895–97; sold as "dame jaune" in May 1897 for Fr 150 to Alice Ruben-Faber, possibly for her sister, Ella Ruben]; possibly Ella Ruben, Copenhagen (from 1897); Bernt Grönvold, Copenhagen and Berlin (by 1912–17; bought in Copenhagen for DM 3,000; sold on June 20, 1917 for DM 100,000 to Cassirer); [Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1917; stock no. 2988; sold on July 3 for DM 133,000 to Falk]; Sally Falk, Mannheim (1917–19; consigned to Cassirer, April 11, 1918; sold through Cassirer, stock no. 3430, on April 17, 1919 for DM 200,000 to Winter); Moritz Winter, Warsaw (from 1919); Fritz Schön, Basel and Grunewald, Berlin (by 1924–26); [Stephan Bourgeois, New York, 1926]; Adolph Lewisohn, New York (1926–d. 1938; cat., 1928, pp. 151–52, ill. p. 153 and in color on frontispiece); his son, Sam A. Lewisohn, New York (1938–d. 1951)

Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "Vincent van Gogh: Zehnte Ausstellung," May–June 1914, no. 80 (lent by Bernt Grönvold, Berlin).

Kunsthalle Basel. "Vincent van Gogh," March 27–April 21, 1924, no. 43 (as lent by a private collection, Basel).

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Vincent van Gogh," July 3–August 10, 1924, no. 41 (lent from a private collection, Basel).

Cambridge, Mass. Fogg Art Museum. "Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," March 6–April 6, 1929, no. 92.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "First Loan Exhibition: Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, van Gogh," November 8–December 7, 1929, no. 73.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Summer Exhibition: Retrospective," June 15–September 28, 1930, no. 107.

New York. M. Knoedler & Co.. "Pictures of People: 1870–1930," April 6–18, 1931, no. 2.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Taste of Today in Masterpieces of Painting before 1900," July 10–October 2, 1932, no catalogue.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Modern European Art," October 4–25, 1933, unnumbered cat.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Modern Works of Art," November 20, 1934–January 20, 1935, no. 16 (lent from the Adolph Lewisohn collection).

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Summer Exhibition: The Museum Collection and a Private Collection on Loan," June 4–September 24, 1935, no catalogue.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Vincent van Gogh," November 4, 1935–January 5, 1936, no. 39.

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition," June 26–October 4, 1936, no. 318.

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Summer Exhibitions: Painting & Sculpture from the Museum Collection and on Loan," June 23–November 4, 1937, no catalogue.

New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism," March 1–29, 1938, no. 47 (lent by The Adolph Lewisohn Collection, New York City).

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Art in Our Time," May 10–September 30, 1939, no. 69 (lent by the Lewisohn Collection, New York).

New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Modern Masters from European and American Collections," January 26–March 24, 1940, no. 11 (lent by the Lewisohn Collection, New York).

New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European & American Paintings, 1500–1900," May–October 1940, no. 358 (lent by the Lewisohn collection, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings," October 21, 1949–January 15, 1950, no. 87.

Art Institute of Chicago. "Van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings," February 1–April 15, 1950, no. 87.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Lewisohn Collection," November 2–December 2, 1951, no. 37.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 151.

Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "De David à Toulouse-Lautrec: Chefs-d'œuvre des collections américaines," Spring 1955, no. 33.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 385.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic," October 30, 1973–January 6, 1974, no. 4.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh in Arles," October 18–December 30, 1984, no. 121.

Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. State Hermitage Museum. "From Delacroix to Matisse," March 15–May 10, 1988, no. 41.

Moscow. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. "From Delacroix to Matisse," June 10–July 30, 1988, no. 41.

Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh. "Vincent van Gogh: Paintings," March 30–July 29, 1990, no. 75.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Van Gogh: Face to Face," July 2–September 24, 2000, unnumbered cat. (fig. 181).

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Van Gogh: Face to Face," October 22, 2000–January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (fig. 181).

Art Institute of Chicago. "Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South," September 22, 2001–January 13, 2002, no. 86.

Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South," February 9–June 2, 2002, no. 86.

Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Gauguin and the Origins of Symbolism," September 28, 2004–January 9, 2005, no. 51 (as "L'Arlésienne. Madame Ginoux").

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Melancholie: Genie und Wahnsinn in der Kunst," February 17–May 7, 2006, not in catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde," September 13, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 123.

Art Institute of Chicago. "Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde," February 17–May 13, 2007, no. 123.

Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "De Cézanne à Picasso: Chefs d'oeuvre de la galerie Vollard," June 19–September 16, 2007, no. 155.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters," January 23–April 18, 2010, no. 72 (as "L'Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux with Books").

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [early November 1888] [published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," 3 vols., Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 100, letter no. 559], writes that he has "an Arlésienne at last, a figure (size 30 canvas) slashed on in an hour, background pale citron, the face gray, the clothes black, black, black, with perfectly raw Prussian blue. She is leaning on a green table and seated in an armchair of orange wood," either this picture or F489 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [May 3, 1889] [published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," 3 vols., Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 166, letter no. 590], probably referring to a picture or pictures among a batch of canvases he had just sent to Theo in Paris, one of which may be this work, states that "you will see that the expressions of the two women are different from the expressions one sees in Paris".

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [March 29, 1889] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 146, letter no. 582] , writes that ". . . I thought of a faded woman, you have the study of her at home, the woman who had such strange eyes whom I also met accidentally" [possibly this picture].

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [January 22 or 23, 1889] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 128, letter no. 573] , asks if Theo saw "the portrait of Mme. Ginoux in black and yellow" during his visit to Arles, and states "that portrait was painted in three-quarters of an hour," either this picture or F489 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Theo van Gogh. Letter to his brother Vincent. June 16, 1889 [published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," 3 vols., Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 544, letter no. T10], writes that he is "very fond of that figure of a woman seen from a height. I had a visit from a certain Polack, who knows Spain and the pictures there well. He said it was as fine as one of the great Spaniards," either this picture or F489 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) [see Vincent's letter of June 18, 1889].

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [June 18, 1889] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 182, letter no. 595], in response to his brother's letter of June 16 [see Ref.], writes that he is "glad to hear that someone else has turned up who actually saw something in the woman's figure in black and yellow," either this picture or F489.

Theo van Gogh. Letter to his brother Vincent. June 13, 1890 [published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," 3 vols., Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 573, letter no. T37] , mentions that a lithographer named Lauzet looked at Vincent's paintings, writing that "he likes the 'Portrait of a Woman' which you did at Arles very much," possibly this picture.

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [February 2, 1890] [published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," 3 vols., Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 253, letter no. 625], writes that he is worried about a friend "whose portrait I did in yellow and black," possibly referring to this picture.

Karl Scheffler. "Berliner Secession." Kunst und Künstler 10 (1912), p. 440, ill. p. 435, as in the Bernt Grönvold collection.

Robert Walser. "Zu der Arlesierin von Van Gogh." Kunst und Künstler 10 (1912), pp. 442–43.

G. "Ausstellungen: Berlin." Kunstchronik, n.s., 25 (July 1914), p. 571, as lent by Bernt Grönvold to the Cassirer exhibition.

Théodore Duret. Van Gogh Vincent. Paris, 1916, p. 54, pl. 35.

Robert Walser. "Das Van Gogh-Bild." Neue Zuricher Zeitung (May 1918), [reprinted in Sämtliche Werke, vol. 16, Frankfurt and Zürich, 1985, pp. 344–47; see Ref. Meier 1990].

Paul Westheim. "Erinnerung an eine Sammlung." Kunstblatt 8 (August 1918), p. 234, ill. p. 237 [see Ref. Dorn 1994].

Curt Glaser. Vincent van Gogh. Leipzig, 1921, pl. 13.

Julius Meier-Graefe. Vincent. Munich, 1921, vol. 1, pp. 137–39, 173–74 [English ed., Vincent van Gogh, trans. John Holroyd Reece, London, 1922, vol. 1, pp. 126-28, vol. 2, pp. 24-25; later English ed., New York, 1933, p. 159], compares Van Gogh's "Arlésienne" to a portrait of an actor's head by the Japanese artist Sharaku; records a conversation between Van Gogh and Gauguin concerning Van Gogh's "Arlésienne," both or neither of which citations may refer to this particular work; illustrates three other versions of the subject.

Kurt Pfister. Vincent van Gogh. Potsdam, 1922, pl. 41.

Gustave Coquiot. Vincent van Gogh. Paris, 1923, pp. 187–88, 285, 289.

Alfred Kuhn. "Impressionisten-Ausstellung bei Paul Cassirer." Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt, n.s., 35 (October 3, 1925), p. 444.

"Chronik." Kunst und Künstler 24 (1925–26), pp. 417–18.

Louis Piérard. The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh. London, 1925, p. 104, [French ed., Paris, 1924].

"Lewisohn Buys Van Gogh's Famous 'Arlesienne'." Art News 24 (March 27, 1926), p. 1, ill.

Forbes Watson. "American Collections No. III: The Adolph Lewisohn Collection." The Arts 10 (July 1926), pp. 25–26, 28, ill. on cover.

J.-B. de La Faille. L'Epoque française de Van Gogh. Paris, 1927, p. 46.

Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "Painting from Dan to Beersheba." The Arts 11 (February 1927), pp. 75, 77.

Der Querschnitt 6 (June 1927), ill. p. 474, [see Ref. La Faille 1928].

Stephan Bourgeois. The Adolph Lewisohn Collection of Modern French Paintings and Sculptures. New York, 1928, pp. 151–53, ill. (black and white, and color on frontispiece).

J.-B. de La Faille. L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris, 1928, vol. 1, pp. 139–40, no. 488; vol. 2, pl. 135.

Robert Allerton Parker. "French Art in an American Collection." International Studio 90 (August 1928), p. 73, ill.

H[elen]. C[omstock]. "Van Gogh in 1929: Europe and America." International Studio 93 (June 1929), p. 41, ill. p. 38 (color).

Edith von Térey. "Die Sammlung Adolph Lewisohn, New York." Kunst und Künstler 27 (August 1929), p. 418.

Forbes Watson. "The Fogg Museum Celebrates." The Arts 15 (April 1929), p. 234.

R. H. Wile[n]ski. French Painting. Boston, 1931, pp. 296, 303–4, pl. 122.

Stephan Bourgeois and Waldemar George. "The French Paintings of the XIXth and XXth Centuries in the Adolph and Samuel Lewisohn Collection." Formes nos. 28–29 (1932), pp. 301, 305, ill. (color).

Mid-Week Pictorial 38 (October 14, 1933), ill. p. 10.

"L'Arlésienne, by Van Gogh: Vanity Fair's Series of Modern Painters, no. 5." Vanity Fair 41 (October 1933), p. 23, ill. p. 22 (color).

Wings (December 1933), [see Exh. Cleveland 1936].

Modern Works of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1934, pp. 12, 24, no. 16, pl. 16, dates it 1888.

Margaret Breuning. "Vincent van Gogh." Parnassus 7 (November 1935), p. 20.

Edward Alden Jewell. "Realm of Art: The Warfare that was Van Gogh." New York Times 85 (November 10, 1935), section 9, ill. p. 9.

James W. Lane. "Current Exhibitions." Parnassus 7 (December 1935), p. 27.

"Art of Van Gogh Has First Full Showing in U.S." New York Herald Tribune 95 (November 5, 1935), p. 21.

Daniel Catton Rich. "Gauguin in Arles." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 29 (March 1935), p. 36.

Daniel Catton Rich. "A Note on Sharaku's Influence in Modern Painting." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 29 (January 1935), pp. 5–6, ill.

Hans Tietze. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935, p. 345, pl. 303.

Lamberto Vitali. Vincent van Gogh. Milan, 1936, pp. 9, 12–13, pl. 13.

Sam A. Lewisohn. Painters and Personality: A Collector's View of Modern Art. [New York], 1937, p. 56, colorpl. 28, [also published as "Van Gogh: Salvation in Paint," Art News 36 (October 2, 1937), p. 20].

W. Scherjon and Jos. De Gruyter. Vincent van Gogh's Great Period: Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers sur Oise (complete catalogue). Amsterdam, 1937, p. 19 n. 1, pp. 147–48, Arles no. 118, ill.

A Treasury of Art Masterpieces, from the Renaissance to the Present Day. New York, 1939, pp. 542–43, colorpl. 132.

J.-B. de La Faille. Vincent van Gogh. London, [1939], pp. 365, 569, 573, 587, no. 515, ill.

Sam A. Lewisohn. "Personalities Past and Present." Art News, section I (The 1939 Annual), 37 (February 25, 1939), p. 155, ill. p. 69 (installation photo of Lewisohn's home), states that they bought it in 1926, and that it was shipped from Switzerland.

Mary H. Piexotto. "Famous Art Collections: The Lewisohn Collection." Studio 117 (March 1939), p. 95, ill. p. 107 (color).

James S. Plaut. The Sources of Modern Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1939, p. 80, ill., compares it to Sharaku's actor prints, two of which are illustrated on p. 81.

R. H. Wilenski. Modern French Painters. New York, [1940], p. 80, states that it is patterned after Gauguin's "Old Women at Arles" (Art Institute of Chicago).

W[ilhelm]. Uhde, and Ludwig Goldscheider. Vincent van Gogh. New York, 1941, pl. 67.

Preface by Edward Alden Jewell in French Impressionists and Their Contemporaries Represented in American Collections. New York, 1944, ill. p. 134 (color).

Lionello Venturi. Painting and Painters: How to Look at a Picture, from Giotto to Chagall. New York, 1945, pp. 172–73, fig. 39.

Åke Meyerson. "Van Gogh and the School of Pont-Aven." Konsthistorisk tidskrift 15 (1946), pp. 143, 146, fig. 19.

Fiske Kimball, and Lionello Venturi. Great Paintings in America. New York, 1948, pp. 204–5, no. 95, ill. (color).

Carl Nordenfalk. Vincent van Gogh. Amsterdam, [1948], p. 130, [1st ed., Stockholm, 1943].

William Gaunt. "Van Gogh: The Man in His Time." Art News Annual 19 (1950), p. 63, ill. (color).

Meyer Schapiro. Vincent van Gogh. New York, 1950, pp. 21, 34, 88–89, ill. (color).

Lionello Venturi. Impressionists and Symbolists. 2, New York, 1950, pp. 193–94, fig. 192.

Jean Leymarie. Van Gogh. [Paris], 1951, pp. 44–45, 90, 109, no. 73, ill.

Werner Weisbach. Vincent van Gogh: Kunst und Schicksal. 2, Basel, [1951], pp. 100–102, pl. 55.

René Huyghe. Le Carnet de Paul Gauguin. Paris, 1952, pp. 75, 77.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 7, ill. p. 55.

John Rewald. Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. 1st ed. New York, 1956, p. 260, ill. p. 261 [3rd, rev. ed., 1978, pp. 238, 240, ill. p. 239].

A. Hyatt Mayor. "The Gifts that Made the Museum." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (November 1957), p. 106, calls it "Van Gogh's sulphurously bilious Arlésienne".

Frank Elgar. Van Gogh: A Study of His Life and Work. New York, 1958, pp. 164–65, no. 153, ill.

August Kuhn-Foelix. Vincent van Gogh: Eine Psychographie. Bergen, Germany, 1958, p. 120.

John Canaday. Mainstreams of Modern Art. New York, 1959, pp. 372–73, fig. 447, dates it 1887.

Kurt Badt. Die Farbenlehre Van Goghs. Cologne, 1961, pp. 76, 127, colorpl. 21 (detail).

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 185–88, ill., call the Orsay version (F489) "very probably a repetition" of this picture.

Jean Leymarie. Van Gogh. [1st ed., 1968]. New York, 1977, pp. 128, 140, 166, 208, ill. p. 129 (color).

Margaretta M. Salinger. "Windows Open to Nature." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (Summer 1968), unpaginated, ill., identifies this version as the one painted by Van Gogh in one hour, from the model.

J.-B. de La Faille. The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam, 1970, pp. 219–20, 630–31, no. 488, ill.

Mark Roskill. Van Gogh, Gauguin, and the Impressionist Circle. Greenwich, Conn., 1970, pp. 82–83, 140–42, 146, 155, 297, pl. 60, sees in it a combination of the influence of Japan and of Puvis de Chavannes, relating it to a Kaigetsudo print (pl. 62) reproduced in a periodical that Van Gogh had received from his brother in September 1888, and to two Puvis portraits about which he had written to Bernard in August 1888; compares it to Gauguin's depictions of the same model.

Mark Roskill. Van Gogh, Gauguin, and French Painting of the 1880s: A Catalogue Raisonné of Key Works. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1970, p. 69, calls the Orsay version (F489) a "straightforward pastiche" by a later hand.

Wladyslawa Jaworska. Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School. [first ed., Neuchâtel, 1971]. Greenwich, Conn., 1972, p. 65, ill. p. 64, as by Gauguin.

Paolo Lecaldano. "Da Arles a Auvers." L'opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici. 2, repr. [1st ed., 1966]. Milan, 1971–77, pp. 215–16, no. 610, ill., calls it the first of Van Gogh's portraits of this model.

Hope Benedict Werness. "Essays on van Gogh's Symbolism." PhD diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1972, pp. 47, 61 n. 37.

Matthias Arnold. "Duktus und Bildform bei Vincent van Gogh." PhD diss., Ruprecht-Karl University, Heidelberg, 1973, pp. 173, 195 n. 439.

Van Gogh in Perspective. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1974, p. 157, reprints Ref. Nordenfalk 1948, identifying the work he mentions as this picture.

Anne Stiles Wylie. "Coping with a Dizzying World." Vincent 3, no. 1 (1974), p. 13, fig. 8.

Pierre Descargues. Vincent van Gogh. Paris, 1975, pp. 98–99, ill.

Rosemary Treble. Van Gogh and His Art. New York, 1975, p. 87, colorpl. 67.

Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski Princeton University. Paul Gauguin in the Context of Symbolism. New York, 1978, pp. 101–2, 411, pl. 63.

Klaus Berger. Japonismus in der westlichen Malerei: 1860–1920. Munich, 1980, pp. 142, 361, fig. 93, compares it to Harunobu's print "Girl Painting Flowers" (fig. 94), reproduced in a periodical received by Van Gogh, and also mentions the possible influence of the work of Shuncho.

Paul Hefting. Vincent van Gogh: A Detailed Catalogue of the Paintings and Drawings by Vincent van Gogh in the Collection of the Kröller-Müller National Museum. 4th rev. ed. Otterlo, 1980, p. 110 [1st Dutch ed., 1957; 1st English ed., 1959].

Jan Hulsker. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. [1st ed., Amsterdam, 1977]. New York, 1980, pp. 372, 374, no. 1624, ill.

Griselda F. S. Pollock. "Vincent van Gogh and Dutch Art." PhD diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, 1980, vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 329–330; vol. 1, pt. 3, pp. 472, 511–12 n. 93, pp. 592, 613 n. 107; vol. 2., pt. 2, fig. 192.

Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto, 1981, pp. 142–44, 188, no. 30, ill., believes it to be less indebted to Gauguin than is usually claimed; illustrates a postcard from about 1913 (fig. 54) depicting an Arlésienne in similar dress.

A[braham]. M. Hammacher and Renilde Hammacher. Van Gogh: A Documentary Biography. New York, 1982, pp. 169, 172, fig. 155 (color).

James Beck. "Van Gogh in Arles." Arts Magazine 59 (December 1984), ill. p. 85.

Ronald Pickvance The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lecture at symposium held in conjunction with "Van Gogh in Arles" exhibition. November 17, 1984, notes the similarity between Mme Ginoux's pose and that of the sitter in Degas's "A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers (Madame Paul Valpinçon?)" (MMA, 29.100.128), which was bought by Van Gogh's brother Theo for Goupil in 1887.

Ronald Pickvance. Van Gogh in Arles. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 206–10, no. 121, ill. (color), believes the Paris canvas (F489) to be the original version of the composition, and the work mentioned in Van Gogh's letters [see Refs. 1888 and 1889]; suggests that the MMA picture may have been painted for the sitter just before Van Gogh left Arles in May 1889; gives biographical information on the sitter.

Matthias Arnold. "Van Goghs 'Arlésienne'." Kunst und Antiquitäten no. 2 (1985), pp. 66–76, fig. 2 (color).

A[braham]. M. Hammacher. Vincent van Gogh: Genius and Disaster. 2nd ed. [1st ed., New York, 1968]. New York, 1985, pp. 106–7, ill. (color).

Ronald Pickvance The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers. New York, 1986, pp. 177, 317.

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, pp. 194–95, fig. 280.

Sjraar van Heutgen et al. in Franse meesters uit het Metropolitan Museum of Art: Realisten en Impressionisten. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1987, p. 15, pl. 4.

Albert Kostenevich. Western European Painting in the Hermitage: 19th–20th Centuries. Leningrad [St. Petersburg], 1987, pp. 306–7, claims that Mme Ginoux is included in a green dress at the lower left in "The Arena at Arles" (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), and also resembles a figure included at the left in "Memory of the Garden at Etten" (Hermitage), which was painted at about the same time as the MMA portrait.

Gary Tinterow et al. "Modern Europe." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 8, New York, 1987, pp. 10, 62–63, colorpl. 42, call it probably the second version of the composition.

Walter Feilchenfeldt. Vincent van Gogh & Paul Cassirer, Berlin: The Reception of Van Gogh in Germany from 1901 to 1914. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1988, pp. 99, 149–50, 156, ill.

Judy Sund. "The Sower and the Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor in the Art of Vincent van Gogh." Art Bulletin 70 (December 1988), p. 669 n. 61.

Judy Sund. "Favoured Fictions: Women and Books in the Art of Van Gogh." Art History 11 (June 1988), pp. 256–60, 266 n. 2, pl. 39.

Ettore Camesasca. The São Paulo Collection: From Manet to Matisse. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh, Amsterdam. Milan, 1989, pp. 202, 204, 207, ill.

Fritz Erpel. Vincent van Gogh: Lebensbilder, Lebenszeichen. Munich, 1989, p. 301, pl. 394, dates it "November 1888/spring 1889(?)".

Walter Feilchenfeldt. "Van Gogh Fakes: The Wacker Affair, with an Illustrated Catalogue of the Forgeries." Simiolus 19, no. 4 (1989), p. 292, states that it belonged to the painter Bernt Grönvold, was in Cassirer's account books in 1917, and was sold to Sally Falk for DM 133,000.

Marian Bisanz-Prakken in Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement: 1890–1914. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Freren, Germany, 1990, p. 422, mentions Van Gogh's portraits of Mme Ginoux as an influence on Egon Schiele's work from 1909 to about 1912.

Hans Bronkhorst. Vincent van Gogh. New York, [1990], pp. 109, 116, 121, ill. p. 110 (color), believes the Paris work (F489) is probably the version mentioned in Van Gogh's letters [see Refs. 1888 and 1889], but dates both pictures November 1888.

Roland Dorn Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität zu Mainz. Décoration: Vincent van Goghs Werkreihe für das Gelbe Haus in Arles. Hildesheim, 1990, pp. 44, 153–55, 247 n. 44, p. 255 n. 104, pp. 407–13, 435.

Fred Leeman in Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement: 1890–1914. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Freren, Germany, 1990, p. 248, ill. p. 250, calls it the prototype for Jan Sluyters's "Woman Reading" (cat. no. 89; Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven) of 1911.

Andreas Meier in Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement: 1890–1914. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Freren, Germany, 1990, pp. 62–63, discusses Robert Walser's writings on this picture [see Refs. 1912 and 1918].

Giovanni Testori and Luisa Arrigoni. Van Gogh: Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1990, p. 266, no. 590, ill., date it November 1888.

Evert van Uitert et al. Vincent van Gogh: Paintings. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. Milan, 1990, p. 180, no. 75, ill. p. 183 (color), call the Paris work the first version of the subject and date both pictures November 1888; suggest that the MMA picture may have been made to repay Mme Ginoux for posing.

Anna G. Barskaya and Albert G. Kostenevich. The Hermitage Catalogue of Western European Painting: French Painting, Mid-Nineteenth to Twentienth [sic] Centuries. Florence, 1991, pp. 177, 179, Barskaya dates both the Paris and New York versions of the portrait October 1888; Kostenevich calls the MMA version the first one, dating the Paris work after November 1888.

Georg Brühl. Die Cassirers: Streiter für den Impressionismus. Leipzig, 1991, pp. 114, 121, 336, states that Grönvold bought it in Copenhagen for DM 3,000, and that he had already owned it a number of years by 1912.

Cornelia Homburg. "Affirming Modernity: van Gogh's 'Arlésienne'." Simiolus 21, no. 3 (1992), p. 133.

Jan Hulsker. "Van Gogh, Roulin and the Two Arlésiennes, a Re-examination: Part II." Burlington Magazine 134 (November 1992), p. 712, fig. 19, argues that the Paris portrait is the original version of the subject, that it is the work mentioned in the letters [see Refs. 1888 and 1889], and that the New York picture must have been presented to Mme Ginoux early on.

Judy Sund. True to Temperament: Van Gogh and French Naturalist Literature. Cambridge, 1992, pp. 207, 209–12, 236–37, 312 n. 23, colorpl. 10, identifies the Paris work as the first version, the one Van Gogh claimed to have completed in an hour or less [see Refs. 1888 and 1889].

Carol Zemel. Vincent van Gogh. New York, 1993, unpaginated, colorpl. 5.

Roland Dorn in Stiftung und Sammlung Sally Falk. Mannheim, 1994, pp. 137–38, 152, 190, 195, gives detailed provenance for the years 1917–19.

Lauren Soth. "Vincent van Gogh Reads Harriet Beecher Stowe." Word & Image 10 (April–June 1994), pp. 160–61, fig. 2.

Denis Thomas. Van Gogh on Location. Edison, N.J., 1994, ill p. 64 (color).

Matthias Arnold. Vincent van Gogh: Werk und Wirkung. Munich, 1995, pp. 155–57, 185, 817 n. 42, colorpl. 71.

Jan Hulsker. The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. rev. ed. Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 370, 372, 374, no. 1624, ill., dates it "November 1888?".

Georg Klusmann. Vincent van Gogh: Still Life with Peonies. Mainburg, Germany, 1996, p. 87.

Martin Bailey. "Cent Van Gogh remis en question." Journal des arts no. 39 (May 30, 1997), pp. 14–15, fig. 1 (color), cites an unpublished article by Benoît Landais, who contends that the MMA work is not the version given to Mme Ginoux and therefore must be a fake, and who suggests that the painting's former owner, Émile Schuffenecker, may have painted it.

Martin Bailey. "At Least Forty-five Van Goghs May Well be Fakes." Art Newspaper 8 (July–August 1997), pp. 21–22, ill., reports that Hulsker placed a question mark after a painting's date to indicate that he is "very doubtful" about its authenticity [see Ref. Hulsker 1996].

Martin Bailey. "The New Complete Van Gogh . . . ." Apollo 145 (June 1997), p. 59.

Carol Zemel. Van Gogh's Progress. Berkeley, 1997, pp. 4, 121–22, 125, fig. 1, colorpl. 7.

Naomi Margolis Maurer. The Pursuit of Spiritual Wisdom: The Thought and Art of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Madison, N.J., 1998, pp. 101–2, fig. 178 (color).

Cynthia Saltzman. Portrait of Dr. Gachet: The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece. New York, 1998, pp. 82, 234–35, states that "according to descendants of the Ruben family, Alice's [Alice Ruben Faber] sister, Ella, owned a version of 'L'Arlésienne'" [see correspondence of June 4, 2001 in archive file].

Roland Dorn. "Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' Series: The Fifth Toile de 30." Van Gogh Museum Journal (1999), p. 44 n. 4, cites it as an example of a work not mentioned in Van Gogh's letters, and calls it "the version of the 'Arlésienne' . . . given to M and Mme Ginoux".

Nancy Forgione. "'The Shadow Only': Shadow and Silhouette in Late Nineteenth-Century Paris." Art Bulletin 81 (September 1999), pp. 500, 505, fig. 15.

Élisabeth Ravaud in Anne Distel and Susan Alyson Stein. Cézanne to Van Gogh: The Collection of Doctor Gachet. Exh. cat., Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. New York, 1999, p. 70 n. 8.

Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Van Gogh in Provence and Auvers. [New York], 1999, pp. 35, 104, 109, 111–12, 153, 277, ill. (color).

Jill-Elyse Grossvogel. Claude-Émile Schuffenecker: catalogue raisonné. 1, San Francisco, 2000, pp. 8–9, under no. 20, in cataloguing a sketch (private collection) by Schuffenecker after the Orsay version, discusses the early provenance and exhibition history of both works, stating that Bernt Grönvold bought the MMA version from Amédée Schuffenecker in 1912.

Ronald Pickvance. Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2000, pp. 281, 310.

Timothy W. Ryback. "The So-Called Van Goghs." Art News 99 (Summer 2000), pp. 186, 193, ill. (color), discusses the controversy surrounding the authenticity of this picture.

Judy Sund et al. in Van Gogh Face to Face: The Portraits. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2000, pp. 114, 123, 197, 200–203, 206–8, 257 n. 147, ill. in color (2nd page of table of contents and fig. 181), date it "November 1888?".

Douglas Druick, and Peter Kort Zegers et al. Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. New York, 2001, pp. 245–46, 256, 356, 363, 365, 390 n. 251, 407, no. 86, fig. 137 (color), fig. 2 on p. 355 (color detail), call it the second version of the composition, dating it early December 1888 and stating that Van Gogh used a tracing of the first version (F489; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) to create it.

David Grossvogel. Behind the Van Gogh Forgeries: A Memoir. San Jose, Calif., 2001, pp. 55–56, 104, 127, 136, 150–56.

Hollis Clayson. "'Some Things Bear Fruit'? Witnessing the Bonds between Van Gogh and Gauguin." Art Bulletin 84 (December 2002), p. 684 n. 66.

Teio Meedendorp and Robert Verhoogt in The Paintings of Vincent van Gogh in the Collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, 2003, p. 260, date the painting to December 1888.

Guillermo Solana in Gauguin and the Origins of Symbolism. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2004, pp. 47–48, 327, no. 51, ill. p. 169 (color), calls it "L'Arlésienne. Madame Ginoux" and dates it 1888; remarks that the sitter "represents the melancholy and tormented soul of a modern woman".

Tomás Llorens in Pablo Picasso: Portraits d'Arlésiennes, 1912–1958. Exh. cat., Fondation Vincent van Gogh. [Arles], 2005, p. 24 n. 2, ill. p. 53 (color).

Ann Dumas and Jonathan Pascoe Pratt in Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, pp. 378–79, no. 123, ill., summarize the early provenance; state that the Ginoux probably sold this version of "L'Arlésienne" to Vollard via Henri Laget and give details of the sale, including the history of Vollard's relationship with Laget; suggest that Wildenstein may have owned the painting in between Bourgeois and Lewisohn in 1926–27.

Walter Feilchenfeldt. By Appointment Only: Cézanne, Van Gogh and Some Secrets of Art Dealing. English ed. London, 2006, pp. 86, 296, 300–1, ill. pp. 85, 296 (color), as "L'Arlésienne (Mme Ginoux)," "L'Arlésienne," and "L'Arlésienne on a Yellow Background"; dates it to November 1888; questions whether Van Gogh gave it to the Ginoux as a gift, or left it behind when he moved to St. Rémy; states that the Ginoux sold it for Fr 60 along with fourteen other paintings to Vollard, via an agent in Arles named Laget, and that it was later owned by Amédée Schuffenecker.

Stefan Koldehoff. "Madame kam aus der Versenkung." Weltkunst 76 (April 2006), p. 107.

Laurence Madeline. Van Gogh, Picasso. Paris, 2006, pp. 64–65, 73, 76, 99, 167 n. 12, p. 172 n. 5, p. 174 n. 7, fig. 38 (color).

Jonathan Pascoe Pratt in Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, pp. 53, 59 n. 33, fig. 55 (color) [French ed., "De Cézanne à Picasso: Chefs-d'oeuvre de la galerie Vollard," Paris, 2007, pp. 62, 68 n. 33, p. 335, no. 155, ill. p. 60 (color)], states that the Ginoux sold it to Vollard for Fr 60 in October 1895 via Henri Laget, founder and editor of the journal "Provence artistique," and that Laget received a Fr 10 commission on the sale; citing Ref. Feilchenfeldt 2006, states that this was the first of fifteen Van Goghs that Vollard acquired in this manner .

Rebecca A. Rabinow and Jayne S. Warman in Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, p. 277, citing a reference to a "dame jaune" in the Vollard archives, state that Vollard probably sold it to Faber in May 1897.

Lin Arison in Lin Arison and Neil Folberg. Travels with Van Gogh and the Impressionists: Discovering the Connections. New York, 2007, pp. 25, 33.

Stefan Koldehoff in Van Gogh and Expressionism. Exh. cat., Neue Galerie New York. Ostfildern, 2007, p. 169, fig. 2 (color), states that Bernt Grönvold, Berlin, purchased it about 1912 in Copenhagen for 3,000 DM and that Sally Falk, Mannheim, purchased it on July 3, 1917 at the Galerie Cassirer, Berlin for 133,000 DM.

Susan Alyson Stein in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 173, 256–57, no. 161, ill. (color and black and white).

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, fig. 17 (installation photo, color).

Martin Bailey in Van Gogh: Heartfelt Lines. Exh. cat., Albertina, Vienna. Cologne, 2008, p. 81 n. 28.

Jill Elyse Grossvogel. Claude-Emile Schuffenecker: Catalogue Raisonné, Supplement. Chicago, 2008, pp. 24, 42.

Ann Dumas in The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2010, p. 127.

Aukje Vergeest in The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2010, pp. 134–35, no. 72, ill. (color), dates it November 1888.

Marie Julien (1848–1911) married Joseph-Michel Ginoux (1836–1902) in 1866. Together they ran the Café de la Gare at 30, place Lamartine, in Arles. Van Gogh rented a room at the café from early May to mid-September 1888.

There is another version of this portrait with an umbrella and gloves on the table, rather than books (F489; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Van Gogh wrote a letter to his brother Theo in early November 1888 [see Ref.] describing a portrait of an Arlésienne, "slashed on in an hour," which refers to either the New York or the Paris picture. Later letters [see Refs. 1889 and 1890] also mention a portrait which must be one of these two works, but never mention two separate versions. Although the question cannot be resolved with certainty, most authors after Pickvance [see Ref. 1984] believe that the Paris picture was the first version, and thus the work referred to in the letters.

Van Gogh painted four other portraits of Madame Ginoux (F540–43), all based on a drawing by Paul Gauguin (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco).