The Hague · April 1882 · social drawing
Sorrow : Sien Hoornik and the drawing which summarizes a period
A naked, pregnant woman sits on the floor. The head disappears into the hair, the back curves and the whole body seems to fit in a single descending line. With almost nothing - paper, black chalk and an outline - Van Gogh transforms a posing session into an image of abandonment.
The short answer
Why Sorrow is it so important?
Sorrow is one of the most ambitious drawings of Van Gogh's Dutch period. He represents Clasina Maria Hoornik, known as Sien, met in The Hague at the beginning of 1882. Pregnant and already mother of a little girl, she became his model, his companion and a central presence in her work on the human figure.
The drawing condenses three researches then carried out by the artist: learning to build a body, giving monumental dignity to people weakened by poverty and producing an image strong enough to be understood without a complicated narrative. Van Gogh writes to Theo that he considers this figure to be best he's drawn so far.
But the work should not be confused with the entire biography of Sien. She is an image composed by Van Gogh, nourished by his readings and his own ideas about abandonment. Sien's voice has almost not reached us. This absence is part of what a contemporary look must recognize.
Do not reduce a person to a posture
Who was Sien Hoornik?
Clasina Maria Hoornik was born in The Hague in 1850. In the documents, she appears as a seamstress and as a woman who had resorted to sex work. When Van Gogh said he met her at the end of January 1882, she was pregnant and lived with her daughter Maria. Their son Willem was born on July 2, 1882 at Leiden University Hospital.
Van Gogh pays his rent, shares his resources, employs him as a model and plans to marry him for a time. His own, for his part, poses very regularly and contributes to the daily life of the workshop. Their life together continued until 1883. Financial difficulties, family pressures and their disagreements made the project impossible; Van Gogh left The Hague for Drenthe in September.
The letters extensively document what Vincent think about this relationship. They almost never give us the direct words of His. Presenting her only as a "saved woman", "tragic muse" or "fallen prostitute" would therefore repeat the masculine gaze of the sources instead of restoring the complexity of a worker, mother and model.
Look up and down
Seven decisions that give the body its weight
The face disappears
Van Gogh does not construct a psychological portrait through the eyes. Hair hides features: emotion comes through the entire posture.
The column becomes an arc
From the top of the skull to the pelvis, the back forms a long, tense curve. This line organizes the image before any anatomical detail.
The stomach moves forward
Pregnancy is neither hidden nor dramatized by an accessory. It simply changes the balance of the torso and the place of the legs.
The arms close the body
Instead of opening towards the viewer, the arms return towards the knees. The figure almost becomes a volume closed in on itself.
The contours are taken up
Around the back, legs and feet, several passages remain visible. The line seeks, insists and transforms hesitation into vibration.
The white of the paper breathes
There is no room or street. The void removes the anecdote and gives the isolated body an almost sculptural presence.
The ground holds in a few signs
A few horizontal lines are enough to prevent the figure from floating. Its weight seems real because the support remains minimal.
See what the line does
Four details, no color
The drawing seems simple from afar. As we approach, we discover a network of different repetitions, frictions and pressures. Van Gogh does not "fill" the shape: he varies the line until the paper becomes flesh, hair and weight.
The head
Hair does not decorate the face: it removes it from view and prolongs the loss of posture.
The back
The most continuous outline of the drawing. It transmits effort, withdrawal and fatigue without facial expression.
Hands
Barely individualized, they are mainly used to close the silhouette and connect the torso to the legs.
Feet and text
The ends stabilize the figure. Below, the inscription transforms the nude study into a statement.
"How is it that there is a single woman on earth - abandoned."Inscription of Van Gogh after Jules Michelet, with his "abandoned" addition
The text at the bottom of the drawing
Michelet gives a sentence to the image
The quote comes from The woman by Jules Michelet. The editors of the letters specify that Van Gogh himself adds the word "abandoned" - written in the masculine form in the inscription. It is therefore not a perfectly faithful quote, but a transformed borrowing for drawing.
In the letter of April 10, Van Gogh also evokes another passage by Michelet on the emptiness of the heart which cannot be filled. These readings help him to name the melancholy he seeks in the figure. However, the text does not explain the entire work: even without reading French, the viewer understands the withdrawal thanks to the curve of the body.
The choice of the English title Sorrow also counts. Van Gogh then admired the social engravings published in British illustrated magazines. Their black and white economy and their attention to working-class lives offer a model for an image that is at once direct, reproducible and charged with feeling.
One image, several states
Versions of Sorrow without confusion
Van Gogh does not draw the figure once. The letters make it possible to reconstruct a work chain: a drawing after a model, two sheets marked by pressure then taken up, a large version now lost and, several months later, a lithograph.
Black chalk and inscription
Walsall's sheet, F 929a /JH 130, bears the phrase after Michelet. The notes of the correspondence relate it to the three states carried out around April 10.
New Art Gallery Walsall
Pencil and wash
F 929 /JH 129 belonged to Anthon van Rappard. The values are softer and the paper more present. This version is now in a private collection.
Private collection
Lithography
Van Gogh takes the figure on lithographic transfer paper. Three prints are known. The image becomes denser, darker and potentially reproducible.
Van Gogh Museum and MoMAFrom private drawing to printed image
Why is Van Gogh coming back to Sorrow in november?
Seven months after the drawings, Van Gogh experimented with lithography. In his letter of November 14, 1882, he insisted on the difference between print to learn and publish to sell. He seeks to understand the power of black and white and to have convincing examples to approach illustrated magazines.
The transition to printing is therefore not a simple duplicate. The shadows become compact, the silhouette stands out more harshly and the image appears designed to circulate. Van Gogh even claims that certain leaves, Sorrow understood, gain strength thanks to the lithographic pencil.
This ambition does not result in a regular career as an illustrator. However, it reveals an essential project of the Hague period: to make modern and popular life a subject worthy of a public image.
The drawing that summarizes a period
The Hague, 1881 -1883 in five movements
Sorrow don't announce the yellows of Arles or the whirlwinds of Saint-Rémy yet. He summarizes another Van Gogh: a designer who learns the trade, looks at poor neighborhoods and wants to speak in black and white.
Settle
Van Gogh arrives in The Hague after his family breakup in Etten. He gets closer to Anton Mauve and works on drawing, watercolor and perspective.
Find models
Models are expensive. Meeting Sien allows him to practice face, clothed or naked, on a daily basis in real situations.
Condenser
With Sorrow, it brings together anatomy, expressive outline, social feeling and the ambition of an autonomous image.
Expand
Sien poses as a mother, seamstress, housewife or street figure. Van Gogh also works with soup kitchens, dunes and workers.
Leave
Common life ends. Van Gogh leaves for Drenthe, but retains the ambition to represent those whom official art shows little.
His doesn't just pose for sadness
Three roles in the workshop
These drawings show the diversity of studies carried out with Sien. The same person can be a nude model, a concentrated worker, a mother or an interior figure. This series gives the period its documentary depth.
The seamstress
Head tilted no longer expresses abandonment, but attention to work. Hands and fabric organize the scene.
The mother
The group of two bodies creates another type of closure. The daily gesture replaces the abstract symbol of pain.
Domestic presence
The stove, the chair and the cigar produce a concrete interior. His appears there less as an allegory than as an inhabitant of the place.
Read without making a legend
Three viewing precautions
The emotion of Sorrow is immediate, but it does not allow us to invent the model's thoughts. A solid reading distinguishes the work, the letters of Van Gogh and the life of Sien.
What we know
Sien posed for Van Gogh, their life was together for about eighteen months and the painter constructed several versions of this figure. The letters give dates and gestures of work.
What Vincent says
He readily presents himself as the one who takes in an abandoned woman. This story illuminates his values, but it remains a man's story about a relationship that involved two people.
What we don't know
We don't know exactly what Sien felt during the pose or how she would have described their lives. The title Sorrow belongs to the artist, not to a retained statement of the model.
Facts, hypotheses, myths
What the sources allow us to affirm
The celebrity of drawing has produced simplifications. The following table separates documented information from reasonable interpretations and overconfident narratives.
| Question | Level | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Is the model Sien Hoornik? | Established | Yes. The notes of the correspondence and the history of the drawings identify her as Clasina Maria Hoornik. |
| Does the drawing date from April 10, 1882? | Solid rough dating | Letter 216, which accompanies the sending of a version, is dated "around April 10" by the publishers. |
| Is there only one version? | False | Two drawings from the initial group survive, two other drawn versions are lost, then Van Gogh creates a lithograph in November. |
| Was Sien crying during the pose? | Undocumented | The face is hidden and the letters do not describe a crying fit. Sadness is built by posture and title. |
| Is drawing a realistic study? | Yes, but composed | It starts directly from the model, while simplifying the decor and mobilizing Michelet and English social imagery. |
| Did Van Gogh "save" His own? | Reducing formula | He provides real help and they live together, but the vocabulary of rescue erases his work, his choices and the tensions of the relationship. |
| Is it oil paint? | No | Walsall's version is a black chalk drawing on paper. The printed version is a lithograph. |
Where to see the works?
Walsall, Amsterdam and New York
The black chalk version with Michelet's inscription belongs to the Garman Ryan Collection from The New Art Gallery Walsall, England. The collections are presented on floors 1 and 2, but a drawing on paper can be temporarily removed for conservation or loan: check the hanging before a trip dedicated to this single sheet.
The other preserved drawing, F 929 /JH 129, is in private collection. It is therefore not permanently visible.
Three proofs of the lithograph from November 1882 are known. Two are kept at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Their exhibition may also vary due to the fragility of the paper.
Continue in the store
Important collections
The catalog does not yet contain a dedicated reproduction of Sorrow. These verified links allow you to explore Van Gogh, his portraits, the great faces of art history and post-impressionism without referring to a non-existent file.
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CatalogHow many works?
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How the facial design becomes monumental color.
AnatomySkull with lit cigar
Another body-building exercise, hijacked by black humor.
Frequently asked questions
Understand everything about Sorrow
What does the title mean Sorrow ?
The English word means "sorrow", "pain" or "sadness". Van Gogh himself uses this title in his letters and on lithography.
Who is the drawn woman?
The model is Clasina Maria Hoornik, known as Sien, seamstress, model and companion of Van Gogh during the Hague period.
Was hers pregnant in the drawing?
Yes. Van Gogh met her pregnant at the beginning of 1882. Her son Willem was born on July 2 of the same year.
Was Van Gogh the father of the child?
Sources don't establish it. Sien was already pregnant when he said he met her. Willem should therefore not be presented as Van Gogh's biological son.
When Sorrow was it made?
The first drawings date from approximately April 10, 1882 in The Hague. The lithograph was produced at the beginning of November 1882.
How many versions are there?
The editors of the letters distinguish four versions drawn in the spring: two remain and two are lost. A separate lithograph is then printed in three known proofs.
What version did Van Gogh send to Theo?
Exact version sent April 10 is not retained. Notes estimate that it was probably a pencil drawing from the sheets marked by pressure.
Why did Van Gogh write a sentence by Michelet?
Reading Jules Michelet then nourished his reflection on abandonment and the condition of women. He adapts a sentence from The woman and adds "abandoned".
Is this a portrait of Sien?
It is a study of a figure according to Sien, but not a portrait in the usual sense: the face is hidden and identity comes through posture rather than features.
Is it a painting?
No. The main version presented here is a black chalk drawing on paper. Van Gogh also made a lithograph from it.
Where's original?
Version F 929a /JH 130 belongs to The New Art Gallery Walsall. Another drawn version is in private collection; lithographs are in Amsterdam and New York.
Why does the work summarize the Hague period?
It brings together anatomical learning, daily work according to model, interest in marginalized people, influence of social illustration and desire to create a reproducible image.
Verifiable sources
Return to letters and collections
The dates, number of versions and intentions related to the drawing and lithography come from the scientific edition of the correspondence. The places of conservation are cross-checked with the institutions.
Letter 216 to Theo
Sending the drawing, the superimposed sheet method, Michelet and the idea of the "best figure".
May 7, 1882Letter 224 to Theo
The first explicit presentation of Sien, the work of the model and the context of The Hague.
July 23, 1882Letter 250 to Theo
Van Gogh points again Sorrow like his best drawing and affirms his passion for the figure.
November 14, 1882Letter 282 to Theo
Lithographic essays, the power of black and white and the project of showing sheets to magazines.
Official collectionNew Art Gallery Walsall
Presence of Sorrow in the Garman Ryan Collection and identification of Sien.
StampVan Gogh Museum
The subject Sorrow in the print collection and prints kept in Amsterdam.
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