Daily Dose Of Art: La Mousmé

"La Mousmé" by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Inspired by Pierre Loti's novel Madame Chrysanthème and Japanese artwork, van Gogh painted La Mousmé, a well-dressed Japanese girl. He wrote in a letter to his brother: "It took me a whole week...but I had to reserve my mental energy to do the mousmé well. A mousmé is a Japanese girl—Provençal in this case—twelve to fourteen years old."

Well, she doesn't look very Japanese but maybe it doesn't matter. For van Gogh, Arles (where he lived) was "the Japan of the south." Retreating from the big cities, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art.

Van Gogh's use of color is intended to be symbolic. La Mousmé's outfit is a blend of modern and traditional. Her outfit is certainly modern. The bright colors of skirt and jacket are of the southern region of Arles. Regarding van Gogh's painting of her features, his greatest attention is focused on the girls face, giving her the coloring of a girl from Arles, but with a Japanese influence. The young lady's posture mimics that of the oleander. The flowering oleander, like the girl, is in the blossoming stage of life

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It's so refreshing to see a non-popular piece from such an iconic artist, don't you agree?