Red Cabbages and Garlic

Oil painting painted by Vincent Van Gogh

F374
JH1338

Dimensions50 cm × 64.5 cm (20 in × 25.4 in)LocationVan Gogh Museum

Red Cabbages and Garlic (F374) is an oil painting on canvas by Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh in Paris in 1887.

The painting was formerly known as Red Cabbages and Onion until 2023, when the name was changed upon observation of the bulbs by a chef.^[1] It is currently held at the Van Gogh Museum.^[2]

Description

Painted on twill canvas, the painting is part of a series of still life paintings made when he lived in Montmartre, Paris, and decorated the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh. ^[3]

The painting utilizes mini-brushstrokes, of blues, greens, and a rusty red for the red cabbage, and yellows and oranges for the garlic, on a white cloth, though the shades used for the tablecloth aged with time, turning from purple into a greyish-blue.^[2]^[4]

After Theo's death, the painting was passed thence with descent, by his widow Jo van Gogh-Bonger, then to son Vincent Willem van Gogh. It went on public debut in 1928 by Paul Cassirer's gallery in Berlin. It was then loaned to the Stedelijk Museum in 1931, then transferred to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation run by the Netherlands. It was on loan to the Rijksmuseum from 1973, and has been since then been displayed at the Van Gogh Museum July 1, 1994 onwards.^[2]

Renaming

In 2022, Ernst de Witte, head chef of "Restaurant Feu" in Utrecht, visited the museum, and noted that the "onions" in the painting was in fact garlic.^[1] In an interview with Hyperallergic, the chef and his wife presented n analysis of the painting on Microsoft PowerPoint comparing the painting with another painting Still Life: Drawing Board, Pipe, Onions and Sealing Wax F604 (1889), housed at the Kröller-Müller Museum, differentiating how Van Gogh utilized shape and colors of garlic and onion.^[5] It was determined that the painting's title was misnamed since 1928, and was then amended.^[5] As a tribute to this encounter, de Witte made a "Red Cabbage and Garlic" dish at his restaurant: poached red cabbage on a puffed garlic creme, and drizzled with a lemon balm and tarragon vinaigrette, with absinthe, Van Gogh's favorite alcoholic drink.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Magazine, Smithsonian; Nowakowski, Teresa. "Van Gogh Painting Gets a New Name Thanks to an Eagle-Eyed Chef". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Red Cabbages and Garlic Vincent van Gogh, 1887". Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
^ Johnson, Don H.; Richard Johnson, C.; Erdmann, Robert G. (March 2013). "Weave analysis of paintings on canvas from radiographs". Signal Processing. 93 (3): 527–540. doi:10.1016/j.sigpro.2012.05.029. ISSN 0165-1684.
^ Cusack, Tricia (2022-02-01). The Reading Figure in Irish Art in the Long Nineteenth Century. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-78527-645-3.
^ ^a ^b Nayyar, Rhea (2023-04-21). "Van Gogh Still Life Renamed After Chef Catches Mistake". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
^ Lanier, Doris (2004-03-22). Absinthe--The Cocaine of the Nineteenth Century: A History of the Hallucinogenic Drug and Its Effect on Artists and Writers in Europe and the United States. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1967-8.

Vincent van Gogh

General

Groups of
works

Early works (1881–82)
Portraits (1881–1890)
Peasant Character Studies (1881–1885)
Van Gogh's family in his art (1881–1888)
Sien (1882–83)
Cottages (1883–1885)
Water Mill at Gennep (1884)
Still life paintings, Netherlands (1884–85)
Old Church Tower at Nuenen (1884–85)
Amsterdam (1885)
Wheat Fields (1885–1890)
Le Moulin de la Galette (1886)
Still life paintings, Paris (1886–87)
Montmartre (1886–87)
Self portraits (1886–1889)
Outskirts of Paris (1887)
Asnières (1887)
Seine (1887)
Japonaiserie (1887)
Sunflowers (1887–1889)
Trees and Undergrowth (1887–1890)
Copies by Vincent van Gogh (1887–1890)
Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888)
Saintes-Maries (1888)
Boats du Rhône (1888)
Décoration for the Yellow House (1888)
The Roulin Family (1888–89)
Hospital in Arles (1888–89)
Flowering Orchards (1888–89)
Almond Blossoms (1888–1890)
Paintings of Children (1888–1890)
The Wheat Field (1889)
Reaper (1889)
Olive Trees (1889)
Wheat Fields (1889)
Butterflies (1889–90)
Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (1889–90)
Auvers size 30 canvases (1890)
Auvers Double-squares and Squares (1890)
Lost works by Vincent van Gogh
Display at Les XX, 1890

Oil paintings

1882	Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather Girl in White in the Woods Lying Cow A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background
1883	Cows in the Meadow Farmhouses Among Trees Bulb Fields Landscape with a Church at Twilight Landscape with Dunes Footbridge across a Ditch Marshy Landscape A Wind-Beaten Tree Farm with Stacks of Peat Farmhouses in Loosduinen near The Hague at Twilight Three Figures near a Canal with Windmill
1884	Two Rats Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen Landscape with Pollard Willows Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox Lane in Autumn Water Mill at Opwetten Water Mill at Kollen Village at Sunset Avenue of Poplars in Autumn Avenue of Poplars at Sunset Head of an Old Farmer's Wife in a White Hat
1885	Still Life with Straw Hat The Potato Eaters Peasant Woman Digging Peasant Woman Digging Up Potatoes Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette
1886	Vase with Red Poppies Vase with White and Red Carnations The Kingfisher
1887	Poppy Flowers Wheat Field with a Lark View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic Portrait of Père Tanguy A Woman Walking in a Garden Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Red Cabbages and Garlic
1888	Madame Roulin and Her Baby Landscape with Snow La Mousmé The Zouave Still Life: Vase with Oleanders The Night Café The Yellow House Van Gogh's Chair Café Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhône Portrait of the Artist's Mother Bedroom in Arles The Painter on the Road to Tarascon Les Alyscamps A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles Falling Autumn Leaves L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) Les Arènes Interior of a Restaurant in Arles A Lane near Arles Arles: View from the Wheat Fields Sunset at Montmajour Farmhouse in Provence Orchard with Cypresses
1889	Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Portrait of Doctor Rey Crab on its Back Two Crabs Irises Lilac Bush The Starry Night The Gardener Self-portrait (1889) Self-portrait without beard Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul A Road at Saint-Remy with Female Figure Enclosed Field with Peasant Rain Cypresses Wheat Field with Cypresses Green Wheat Field with Cypress The Diggers The Ravine of the Peyroulets Ivy View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint-Rémy The Large Plane Trees
1890	The Siesta Road with Cypress and Star At Eternity's Gate Thatched Cottages and Houses Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers Houses at Auvers White House at Night Landscape with a Carriage and a Train Girl in White The Church at Auvers Daubigny's Garden Farms near Auvers The Cows The Town Hall at Auvers Blossoming Chestnut Branches Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses Portrait of Adeline Ravoux Plain near Auvers Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds Wheatfield with Crows Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) Tree Roots Landscape at Auvers in the Rain Poppy Field