Painting of three male figures, two older men in top hats and a younger man with red hair, standing outdoors around a wooden table with a pitcher on it, drinking from glasses. A much smaller, childlike figure at left peers over the table and drinks from a white cup. The scene is rendered in winding paint strokes in shades of green and blue.

The Drinkers

1890

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

Netherlands

During his time in the Asylum of Saint-Paul in Saint-Rémy, a small town near Arles, Vincent van Gogh made a number of copies of the work of artists he admired, which freed him from having to produce original compositions and allowed him to concentrate instead on interpretation. For this image, Van Gogh copied a wood engraving from Honoré Daumier’s Drinkers, a parody on the four ages of man. The exaggerated figure types capture Daumier’s characteristic humor and convey his sad message about the horrors of alcoholism. The greenish palette may well be an allusion to the notorious alcoholic drink absinthe.

This is one of thirty-five works that comprise the Winterbotham Collection. Click here to learn more about the collection.

Oil on canvas

Painting and Sculpture of Europe