Sorrow (Van Gogh)
| Sorrow | |
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| Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
| Year | 1882 |
| Catalogue | F929a |
| Type | Drawing |
| Medium | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Subject | Nude |
| Dimensions | 44.5 cm × 27.0 cm (17.5 in × 10.6 in) |
| Condition | Good |
| Location | The New Art Gallery Walsall, England |
| Accession | 1973.128.GR |
Sorrow is a drawing by Vincent van Gogh, produced in 1882.
The work, created two years after Van Gogh had decided to become an artist, depicts 32-year-old pregnant woman Clasina Maria Hoornik, familiarly known as Sien. Sorrow is widely acknowledged as a masterwork of draftsmanship, the culmination of a long and sometimes uncertain apprenticeship by Van Gogh in learning his craft. The drawing is part of the Garman Ryan Collection held at The New Art Gallery Walsall. Previously, it was in the private collection of artist Sally Ryan, who had the work hung in her permanent suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
The drawing is one of a series using Sien Hoornik as model. It is mentioned in a number of letters by Van Gogh, and he appears to have thought highly of it, considering it an important work and describing the drawing as "the best figure I've drawn". In a letter from July 1882 Van Gogh states; I want to make drawings that touch some people. Sorrow is a small beginning [...] there is at least something directly from my own heart. The piece is numbered as F929a in the catalogue raisonné by Jacob Baart de la Faille.
Van Gogh is reported to have encountered Sien Hoornik wandering the streets of The Hague with her five-year-old daughter Maria Wilhelmina in January 1882. She was destitute and pregnant, with addictions to alcohol and tobacco and reportedly working as a prostitute. Van Gogh cared for her for around a year between 1882 and 1883, reportedly out of pity and a sense of duty. From Hoornik's perspective their relationship is not reported to have been anything more than a convenient solution to a difficult situation. Van Gogh was, however, reported at one stage to have been planning to marry her. He provided shelter and in return Hoornik modelled for him.
In July 1882 Hoornik gave birth to a son, Willem, at the Maternity Hospital in Leiden. After the birth she and Van Gogh moved into an apartment with a studio. This was reportedly a happy period for Van Gogh but by early 1883 Hoornik had started drinking again and returned to prostitution. The shared apartment became squalid, and the relationship between them deteriorated. Van Gogh found it increasingly difficult to support Hoornik and her children, in September 1883 they parted and Van Gogh left to further his career. In 1904 Clasina Maria Hoornik drowned herself in the Schelde River.
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