Paul Gauguin's prowess as a draftsman is revealed in the poignant life-scale portrait of Marie Ginoux, née Julien (1848-1911), known as the famous Arlésienne, the woman from Arles. She and her husband, Joseph-Michel, owned the Café de la Gare on the place Lamartin which Gauguin frequented during his two-month stay with Vincent van Gogh at the Yellow House (October to December 1888). Completed in November after a one-hour competitive posing session with van Gogh, the sheet is boldly executed with dominant black charcoal lines, and subtly highlighted with white chalk and peach-pink pastel. It is also annotated in the upper right with an instructive note: L'oeil moins a costé du / nez / arête vive / la naissance (The eye should be placed farther away from the beginning of the bridge of the nose). It was first used by Gauguin as a preparatory study for the figure of Mme Ginoux in the painting Au café or Mme Ginoux (Pushkin Museum, Moscow). Van Gogh liked the drawing and kept it for several months, using it as a model for at least four known oil versions. Painted from February 1890, they are now preserved in Rome, Otterlo, a private collection, and Sao Paulo (this version, ultimately gifted to Gauguin). (F.R.)