Why Vincent van Gogh rarely signed his paintings

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most recognizable names in Western art, but the Dutch painter did not always put his name on his work. Of the 840 paintings attributed to him, only 133 carry his signature, meaning he signed roughly 15% of the works he produced during his decade-long career.

A new systematic study of Van Gogh’s signatures by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam examines the reasons behind his decision to sign — or leave unsigned — many of his paintings. Researcher Julia Engelmayer’s study also identifies a possible connection between the frequency of his signatures, his artistic confidence and his mental wellbeing.

When Van Gogh did sign his paintings, he generally used “Vincent” rather than his surname. One practical explanation was that “Van Gogh” could be difficult to pronounce outside the Netherlands. Using his first name also gave his work a distinctive and easily recognizable signature.

But his letters to his brother Theo, an art dealer, suggest that there was more to the decision. In a letter written in December 1883, Van Gogh described himself as feeling different from the rest of his family and wrote that, in essence, he did not consider himself a Van Gogh.

A painter still finding his way

Van Gogh first signed a painting in 1884, despite having already spent several years developing his artistic skills. At the time, he regarded much of his work as practice and referred to some of his paintings as “studies.”

His correspondence with Theo provides an insight into how severely he judged his own work. Van Gogh frequently questioned the quality of his paintings and remained deeply self-critical throughout his career.

According to Engelmayer, his approach to signing his work also changed as his circumstances changed.

“During his time in the Netherlands, from 1880 to 1885, he very rarely signed his work,” she explained. After moving to Paris in 1886, however, Van Gogh came into contact with other artists and became increasingly interested in exhibiting and selling his paintings.

The research suggests that he signed his work more frequently during his years in Paris and Arles, a period when he was more optimistic about his prospects as an artist.

A decline in confidence

Van Gogh’s mental health deteriorated after he left Paris for Arles in southern France. There, he attempted to establish an artists’ community with Paul Gauguin and entered one of the most productive periods of his career.

He produced major works including The Night Café and the Sunflowers series. But his time in Arles was also marked by severe emotional turmoil. His plans for an artists’ community collapsed, his relationship with Gauguin deteriorated and Van Gogh famously cut off part of his ear.

He later moved to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he spent about a year in a psychiatric hospital.

Although Van Gogh continued to paint extensively during this period, signing became increasingly rare. He produced 151 works in Saint-Rémy, but only a small number carried his name.

One of the most famous examples is The Starry Night, painted in 1889 and left unsigned. The absence of a signature on such a celebrated work was one of the details that prompted Engelmayer to begin examining Van Gogh’s signing habits systematically.

“His mental health deteriorated there. That must have affected his self-esteem and contributed to his dissatisfaction with his work,” Engelmayer said.

Even fewer signatures in his final months

In 1890, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, where his brother Theo believed he would benefit from treatment and supervision by Dr. Paul Gachet, a physician specializing in nervous disorders and a supporter of Impressionist artists.

Van Gogh worked at an extraordinary pace during the roughly 70 days he spent in Auvers. Yet he signed only two paintings.

His reluctance to sign was not absolute. He sometimes added his name to works he intended as gifts or exchanged with fellow artists. This suggests that he may have been more inclined to sign paintings when he felt particularly proud of them or wanted them to be presented as finished works.

His signatures appeared in different colors and locations, although red was the most common. In The Potato Eaters, painted in 1885 and regarded by Van Gogh himself as his first major masterpiece, his name was incorporated into the back of a chair on the left side of the composition. Today, the signature is barely visible.

In other paintings, the signature became part of the composition itself. In Seascape near Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, painted outdoors in 1888, Van Gogh deliberately used a striking red signature in the lower-left corner because he wanted to introduce a red element into the predominantly green scene.

The same approach can be seen in his Sunflowers series. His name follows the shape of the vase and appears in red or blue, blending into the composition while remaining deliberately visible.

Unsigned paintings and questions of authenticity

Van Gogh’s limited use of signatures has also created challenges for experts attempting to establish the authenticity of works attributed to him.

Because the artist died at just 37 and had sold relatively few paintings during his lifetime, many of his works initially remained within the family collection. Some were later sold by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo’s widow.

The Van Gogh Museum still periodically receives works claimed to be previously unknown paintings by the artist. Specialists examine such works using a range of evidence to determine whether Van Gogh was their creator.

Teio Meedendorp, a senior researcher at the museum, said the absence of a signature is not necessarily suspicious when assessing a possible Van Gogh.

“Since it is well known that he did not sign his work very often, we ask more questions when his name appears than when it is missing,” Meedendorp said.

During the final months of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh signed only Portrait of Adeline Ravoux, depicting the daughter of the owner of the inn where he was staying.

In another painting, Daubigny’s Garden, he wrote the title as a way of identifying the garden as that of the influential French painter Charles-François Daubigny.

Van Gogh’s reluctance to sign some of his paintings offers another perspective on an artist whose work is now considered among the most important in modern art.

“Van Gogh sometimes exhibited paintings that he had not signed,” Engelmayer said. “It is possible that he did not value some of the works that we now regard as masterpieces.”