Cart with Black Ox

"Cart with Black Ox" also known as "The Ox-Cart" is a striking oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, completed in 1884. This work is distinguished as one of his significant early pieces. Van Gogh created it in Nuenen before his renowned move to the South of France. The painting is notable for its dark color palette and somber atmosphere, with the ox and cart appearing exhausted and decrepit.

The painting remained in a private family's collection from 1950 until it was generously donated to the Portland Art Museum in 2007. This donation was the museum's most valuable acquisition up to that time in 2010.

Bruce Guenther, a curator at the museum, highlighted the significance of this painting in understanding Van Gogh's evolving artistic style. He specifically noted the depiction of the wheel as a crucial element in the composition.

In 2010, the painting underwent digital X-ray and CT scanning to investigate Van Gogh's techniques further and to contribute valuable data to the Van Gogh Museum's database in Amsterdam. This analysis uncovered a hidden detail: a painted-over flying bird.

Interestingly, there is another painting from the same year titled "Cart with Red and White Ox" housed at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands.