In the Café: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, January-March 1887
oil on canvas,
55.5 cm x 47 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Agostina Segatori was the owner of the Café du Tambourin. She had a brief relationship with Van Gogh. There is a glass of beer on the table, and Agostina holds a lit cigarette. The saucers under the glass on the table betray the fact that she is on her second beer. Drinking and smoking in a café was not appropriate for respectable ladies. That way of life was associated with artistic types and prostitutes.
Van Gogh had organized an exhibition at the café to sell his collection of Japanese prints. Japanese prints can be seen in the background of this portrait. He may have painted Agostina during the exhibition.