First Steps, after Millet, 1890
Vincent van Gogh

In fall and winter, while a voluntary patient at the asylum in Saint-Roy, Van Gogh painted twenty-one copies after Millet, an artist he greatly admired.
He considered his copies "improvisations" or "translations" akin to a musician''''''''''''''''s interpretation of a composer''''''''''''''''s work.
He let the black-and-white images whether prints, reproductions or as here, a photograph that his brother Theo had sent?pose as subject," then he would "improvise color on it."
For this work of January 1890, Van Gogh squared up a photograph of Millet''''''''''''''''s "First Steps" which he then transferred to the canvas.