Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

F212
JH999

MediumOil on canvasDimensions32 cm × 24.5 cm (13 in × 9.6 in)LocationVan Gogh Museum, AmsterdamCoordinates52°21′31″N 4°52′53″E / 52.35854°N 4.881319°E / 52.35854; 4.881319

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (Dutch: Kop van een skelet met brandende sigaret) is an early work by Vincent van Gogh. The small and undated oil-on-canvas painting featuring a skeleton and cigarette is part of the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.^[1] It was most likely painted in the winter of 1885–86 as a satirical comment on conservative academic practices.^[1] Before it was common to use live humans as models, the academic routine included the study of skeletons to develop an understanding of human anatomy. Van Gogh was in Antwerp, Belgium at that time attending classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, which he later said were boring and taught him nothing.^[2]

Van Gogh included skeletons in another work from his Antwerp period, a sketch of a "Hanging skeleton and cat".^[3] In 1887–88, van Gogh painted two more paintings with skulls, the only other works of his (besides a drawing from the same period) to use skulls as a motif.^[2]

The work measures 32 by 24.5 centimetres (12.6 in × 9.6 in). It is considered a vanitas or memento mori, at a time when van Gogh himself was in poor health. It may be influenced by works of Hercules Segers, a 17th-century Dutch artist, or of Félicien Rops, a Belgian contemporary of van Gogh. Although often interpreted as a criticism of smoking, Van Gogh was a keen smoker himself, and continued to smoke until his death in 1890.^[2]

The painting was held by Van Gogh's brother Theo Van Gogh at the time of his death in 1891. It was inherited by his widow Johanna van Gogh-Bonger until her death in 1925, and then by their son Vincent Willem van Gogh until 1962, when it was acquired by the Van Gogh Foundation. It was on loan to the Stedelijk Museum from 1962 to 1973, and has been on permanent loan to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam since 1973.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, 1886". Van Gogh Museum. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2013. This curious and somewhat macabre little painting is undated. It was probably executed in the winter of 1885–86, during Van Gogh's stay in Antwerp....This skull with a cigarette was likely meant as a kind of joke, and probably also as a comment on conservative academic practice.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bundrick, Sheramy (14 June 2008). "Memento Mori or Just a Joke?". Van Gogh's Chair (blog). blogspot.com. Retrieved 19 May 2013. [H]is letters and anecdotes from others record that he sparred with his drawing and painting teachers and was scornful of conservative academic practice. His time at the Academy lasted only weeks; he felt he was learning nothing and later proclaimed academic training "damned boring". Taken from that perspective, 'Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette' could be read as a thumbing-of-the-nose at 'the establishment.'
^ ""Hanging skeleton and cat"".
^ Skull with Burning Cigarette, vggallery.com

Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, 1886 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

External links

Media related to Skull with a burning cigarette by Vincent Van Gogh at Wikimedia Commons

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

Watercolours

Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle (1881)
Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg (1882)
The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague (1882)
Church Pew with Worshippers (1882)
Woman on Her Deathbed (1883)
Landscape with Trees (1883)
Peatery in Drenthe (1883)
Landscape with Wheelbarrow (1883)
Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam (1883)
Breton Women (1888)
Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman (1890)

Drawings

87 Hackford Road (1873 or 1874)
Marsh with Water Lilies (1881)
Sorrow (1882)
Portrait of a Man in a Top Hat (1882)
Torso of Venus and a Landscape (1887)
Head of a Girl (1888)

Museums

Portrayals

Vincent van Gogh (1886 painting)
Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)
The Painter of Sunflowers (1888 painting)
Lust for Life (1934 novel)
Van Gogh (1948 film)
Lust for Life (1956 film)
Van Gogh (1956 opera)
Vincent and Theo van Gogh (1963 statue)
"Vincent" (1971 song)
Vincent (1987 film)
Vincent & Theo (1990 film)
Vincent and Me (1990 film)
Dreams (1990 film)
Vincent (1990 opera)
Van Gogh (1991 film)
Vincent in Brixton (2003 play)
The Yellow House (2007 film)
"Vincent and the Doctor" (2010 TV episode)
Loving Vincent (2017 film)
At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)

Family

Theo van Gogh
Wil van Gogh
Johanna van Gogh-Bonger
Andries Bonger
Theo van Gogh (film director)
Anton Mauve
Johannes Stricker

Cataloguers

Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 and 1970; "F")
Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; "JH")

Death and mortality in art

Themes

Forms

Artwork

Architecture	Capuchin Crypt Catacombs of Paris Sedlec Ossuary Capuchin catacombs of palermo
Film	The Seventh Seal
Literature	Ars moriendi Bardo Thodol Book of Job Book of the Dead Left Ginza Hamlet's soliloquy The Masque of the Red Death
Music	Danse macabre Death and Transfiguration Der Tod und das Mädchen Erlkönig Totentanz
Painting	Et in Arcadia ego Death and Fire Death and Life Death and the Maiden Death and the Miser Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May La Calavera Catrina Plague Pyramid of Skulls Roman Widow Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette Sleep and His Half-Brother Death The Ambassadors The Garden of Death The Shadow of Death The Three Ages of Man and Death The Triumph of Death
Poetry	"And death shall have no dominion" "Because I could not stop for Death" "Erlkönig" "Do not go gentle into that good night"