The Gardener Vallier

1906

Oil on canvas, 107.4 × 74.5 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A bearded old man in a dark cap and jacket sits on a wooden seat against a deep green ground. It is one of a late series of portraits of the same sitter.

Loose, thick patches of green, blue and brown stay visible across the whole surface. The open, mottled handling lets the paint itself carry the structure of the figure.
Its earliest listed showing was at the Met in 1920, titled A Sailor.
Look at the pose: legs crossed, fingers laced together in his lap.
Small touches of bright blue, orange and red light up the dark clothes and face.
It came to the National Gallery in 1959 as a gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer.

Vallier was the gardener and handyman at the painter's house near Aix. The artist died in October of the year this was painted.

Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington, Open Access · CC0