La Mousmé by Vincent van Gogh (1888)

Resolution: 3683 × 4506 px

A young Provençal sitter faces the viewer against a pale turquoise ground, seated in a curved dark chair and holding a small spray of oleander. Her striped red-and-blue bodice, gold buttons, patterned blue skirt, and red hair ribbons are built from emphatic strokes and strong complementary colour, while the carefully modelled face gives the portrait a focused, quietly self-possessed presence.

The National Gallery of Art dates La Mousmé to 1888. Van Gogh borrowed the word “mousmé” from contemporary French writing about Japan and described his sitter as a Japanese girl “Provençal in this case.” The painting is significant because it joins his direct sympathy for an individual sitter with the flat colour, bold pattern, and simplified space he admired in Japanese prints. Rather than a conventional society portrait, it becomes a vivid experiment in how colour and line can express character.

This high-resolution digital image preserves the vigorous brushwork, crisp colour contrasts, subtle facial modelling, and richly patterned clothing. It is well suited to close study, distinctive interior display, and collectors interested in Van Gogh’s Arles period, portraiture, and engagement with Japanese art.