# Sien with Cigar Sitting on the Floor near Stove [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GOGH, Vincent van]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Pencil, pen and brush in black ink, white opaque watercolour on laid paper \(two sheets\), 452 x 557 mm ## Commentary <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/database/glossary/note02.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=300,height=400'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">Catalogue numbers:</a> F 898, JH 141. Van Gogh settled in The Hague in late December 1881. At the beginning of 1882, he got to know Clasina Maria \("Sien"\) Hoornik \(1850-1904\), a drunken woman who had spent her life in a state of moral and physical misery. He brought her and her children to live in his house and used her as a model. She drank and smoked cigars while he had to go hungry. Sien initially earned her bread as a prostitute and was already pregnant when she met van Gogh. Vincent was ready to marry her, but his brother Theo was against it. This relationship lasted eighteen months. Between March and May 1882, van Gogh did a series of large-size drawings of Sien of which the present drawing is probably the first and most impressive piece. ## Related artworks - [A Cottage on the Heath and "The Protestant Barn"]() - [A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles]() - [A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul]() - [A Pair of Leather Clogs]() - [A Pair of Shoes]() - [A Pair of Shoes]() - [A Workman's Meal-Break]() - [Agostina Segatori in the Café du Tambourin]() - [Almond Tree in Blossom]() - [Apricot Trees in Blossom]() - [At Eternity's Gate \("Worn Out"\)]() - [Avenue of Plane Trees near Arles Station]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()