Dr. Gachet (1890): Art, History and Details

Dr. Gachet (1890) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This portrait of Dr. Paul Gachet, made just two months before the artist’s death, is the only etching that Vincent van Gogh created. Van Gogh placed himself under the care of Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village on the northern outskirts of Paris, at the recommendation of fellow artist Camille Pissarro. The doctor was himself an amateur printmaker and gave Van Gogh a varnished copper plate, helping him print it on his own small hand press. For his first attempt, Van Gogh depicted Gachet seated in his garden smoking a pipe.

Object facts

• Title: Dr. Gachet
• Date: 1890
• Creator attribution: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Print
• Technique: Etching and drypoint, enhanced with black ink on laid paper
• Dimensions: 18.1 x 15.2 cm (7 1/8 x 6 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1948.303

A detail from the museum

Van Gogh’s brother Theo wrote of this print, “It’s a real painter’s etching. No refinement in the procedure, but a drawing done on metal.”

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.