Vincent van Gogh - Skull 1887 #2

Skull, painted in 1887-1888 in oil on canvas on triplex board by Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Paris. The skull is isolated against a dark background and modelled with a restricted range of pale bone tones, browns and black. Painted during Van Gogh's Paris period on a rigid triplex support, the work turns an academic anatomical subject into a compact still life. Its direct presentation and economical palette contrast sharply with the brighter flower paintings and landscapes he was producing in France at the same time.