Skull with Cigarette by Vincent van Gogh - 1886 - 32 × 24.5 cm Van Gogh Museum Skull with Cigarette by Vincent van Gogh - 1886 - 32 × 24.5 cm Van Gogh Museum

Skull with Cigarette

oil on canvas • 32 × 24.5 cm
  • Vincent van Gogh - March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890 Vincent van Gogh 1886

Van Gogh painted this work while studying figures from life models at the Academy of Art in Antwerp. The students were at the time learning in the academic tradition, which relied heavily on the classical examples and practices of ancient Rome and Greece. As Van Gogh did not agree with this form of painting, it is believed that this image was most likely meant as a joking mockery of the academic practice.