Jeanne Lafuy Trabuk was the wife of the warder of the hospital for the mentally ill, where Van Gogh was undergoing treatment. When she posed for the artist, she was 55 years old. In a letter to his brother Theo Van Gogh warmly responded about this woman, describing it as “an unhappy, quiet and inconspicuous dusty blade of grass.”
When Van Gogh wrote landscapes near the hospital, she talked with him several times, assuring that she did not believe that he was sick. Perhaps, it was the painting, in which the artist plunged with his head, made him distract from his illness and as if to leave him for a while.
In the portrait, the artist conveys the meek nature of a woman, her kindness and spirituality. Unattractive skinny figure is placed in the middle of the canvas, the author quite generalizes depicts black clothes and a simple hairstyle. The main emphasis is on the face, humbly bowed to the side of the head, large, kind and attentive eyes of the woman.
The picture is executed neatly in small strokes. The color palette is not bright, but if you look closely at the colors, you can distinguish many soft shades. The face is dominated by yellow shades, and the overall color is animated by a small bright bundle of flowers adorning the dress of Madame Trabuk.
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