''Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré)'', also known as ''The Prisoners' Round'', or ''Prisoners Exercising'', or ''Penitentiary (after Doré)'', (F669) is an oil painting of February 1890 by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

. This late work was painted at

Saint-Paul Asylum The Monastery of Saint Paul de Mausole () is a former Roman Catholic 11th—century Benedictine monastery in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, France. It was later administered by the Order of Saint Francis in 1605. Several rooms of the buildi ...

in Saint-Rémy, inspired by an 1872 engraving by

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6January 1832 – 23January 1883) was a French printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravings illustrati ...

of the exercise yard (''le bagne'') at

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pr ...

. The original oil painting is held by the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Van Gogh suffered an attack of ill mental health in 1888, and he was detained in a mental hospital from May 1889 to May 1890. The director of the hospital, Dr. Peillon, and Van Gogh's brother,

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root ''Theo-'' derive from the Ancient Greek word (), which means God, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, Theophano and The ...

, encouraged Vincent to paint in order to aid his recovery. Unable to go out to paint from life, he turned to copying other works, including photographs and engravings. Rather than copying Doré's print, he worked from a more distinct woodblock reproduction by , from a Dutch magazine, (6 (1872–1873), no. 45, p. 357). The painting depicts a group of prisoners walking in a circle around a claustrophobic prison yard, surrounded by brick walls with a few small arched windows high up. The prisoners are parading past detectives so they would remember the criminal's faces. The work is dominated by depressing tones of blue and green in the shadowy depths of the yard, with splashes of red on the better lit bricks above, and two small white butterflies higher up. One prisoner at the front of the group, without a cap, whose features may resemble Vincent's, has turned his head to look out at the viewer. The scene recalls Van Gogh's own detention, and his psychological isolation. Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that he found it difficult to execute this work and his painting of ''Men Drinking'' (after

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...

). File:Newgate-prison-exercise-yard.jpg, ; after

, ''Newgate – exercise yard'', from '' London: A pilgrimage'' by Gustave Doré and

Blanchard Jerrold William Blanchard Jerrold (London 23 December 1826 – 10 March 1884), was an English journalist and author. Biography He was born in London, the eldest son of the dramatist, Douglas William Jerrold. Due to his disagreements with the practi ...

, 1872 File:Daumier The Drinkers.jpg,

, ''The Drinkers'', 1862; from '' Monde Illustré'', 25 October 1862, under the title ''Physiologie du buveur, les quatre ages'' ("Psychology of drinkers, the four ages") File:Van Gogh - Die Trinker (nach Daumier).jpeg, Vincent van Gogh, ''Men Drinking (after Daumier),'' 1890,

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

(F667) Just a few months later, Van Gogh shot himself in July 1890, and this was one of the works displayed around his coffin before his funeral.

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (; 28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his no ...

wrote of "Convicts walking in a circle surrounded by high prison walls, a canvas inspired by Doré of a terrifying ferocity and which is also symbolic of his end. Wasn't life like that for him, a high prison like this with such high walls – so high ... and these people walking endlessly round this pit, weren't they the poor artists, the poor damned souls walking past under the whip of Destiny?" On the death of Theo van Gogh in January 1891, the painting was inherited by his wife

Johanna van Gogh-Bonger Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger (4 October 1862 – 2 September 1925) was a Dutch editor who translated the hundreds of letters of her first husband, art dealer Theo van Gogh (art dealer), Theo van Gogh, and his brother, Vincent van Gogh. Van ...

. It passed through the ownership of Willy Gretor, Maurice Fabre and

Alexandre Berthier, 3rd Prince of Wagram Louis Philippe Marie "Alexandre" Berthier, 3rd Prince of Wagram (24 March 1836, Paris – 15 July 1911, Château de Grosbois) was a French nobleman and prince of Wagram. He was the son of Napoléon Alexandre Berthier and Zénaïde Françoise Clary ...

. It was held in Russia by Ivan Morozov by 1909. His collection was nationalised by the Soviet government and became part of the

State Museum of New Western Art The State Museum of Modern Western Art ( ''GMNZI'') was a museum in Moscow. It was based on the collection of paintings assembled by Sergei Schukin and Ivan Morozov (businessman), Ivan Morozov, and nationalized by the Soviet Russia in 1918. Ser ...

in Moscow. The painting moved to the newly created

in 1948. The painting served as the inspiration for a scene in the prison of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film ''A Clockwork Orange''.

References

Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
Saint-Rémy, 10 or 11 February 1890

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Wednesday, 12 February 1890.

Paris, 2 August 1890 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) 1890 paintings Paintings in the Pushkin Museum Paintings by Vincent van Gogh Adaptations of works by Gustave Doré Oil on canvas paintings Works about prisons

See also

References