CLASINA

MARIA
HOORNIK
(1850-1904)

A.K.A SIEN
WHY DID WE CHOOSE
SIEN
Before meeting Vincent,
Who was Sein ?
Single mother of two ;
- A 5y/o Girl
- Currently pregnant w a Son

Living in Poverty
-Public Soup Kitchen
- Pieter Hoornik died
-Eldest in family

Cleaning
Seamstress Prostitute
Woman
HISTORY BETWEEN
SIEN VINCENT
Met each
other in
The Hague

Became
Broke up his model

Family Domestic
disapproval Relationship
How did Sien & Vincent met ?
During winter season (The Hague 1881-1883)
Vincent noticed Sien & her daughter by the streets
They were starving
Vincent came to rescue
Made an agreement regarding about work
Vincent took them in to his place
Series of
The best figure Ive
Vincents drawn
artworks of - Vincent Van Gogh

Sein

Sorrow is a
Sien,
drawing Sien with a cigar, Sien
Sewing, sitting on the floor
by Vincent peeling
Half-Figure, beside the
Van Gogh, fireplace, produced potatoes,
produced in
produced in in 1882 produced in
1883
1882. 1883
 Siens Family painted by
The Vincent Van Gogh

Siens Sien with her

Siens Daughter,
Mother Maria
son, Willem
Produced in Wilhelmina Produced in
1882 Produced in 1883
1883
 The Effect of Sein & Vincent s
Domestic Relationship
Sien is actually a mother of 4 children
Sien experience poor health due to post-operative
effects of early surgeries, illness & venereal disease
Passes to Vincent
Vincent was hospitalized (June,1882) for Gonorrhea
Nevertheless, Vincent left the hospital to visit Sien in
Leiden (July,1)
 BROKE UP (Part I)

Vincents father Scandalized Siens illegitimate

was a Pastor family daughter & son

Vincents parents
pressured him to Pressured
Vincent
abandon Sien
 BROKE UP (PART II)

Vincents family Seins family was

was Protestant Catholic

Vincents family
disapproved
Pressured Vincent
religion
differences
 BROKE UP (PART III)

Vincent cannot
Sien started
support Sien and
drinking & back
her children
to prostitution
anymore

Theo urged Vincent left Sien

Vincent to follow
him to Drenthe (Autumn of 1883)
 RIP
CLASINA MARIA HOORNIK
(1850 1904)
Death Of Sien

After the split up, she went back to work as seamstress, cleaning woman, and
possibly as a prostitute
Her children, Maria and Willem, lived with Siens mother and brother, Pieter
respectively
In 1901, Sien married a seaman, Anton Van Wijk
Eventhough she was married, she still lived her life miserably
Sien once told Vincent that she would one day drown herself
She did indeed drown herself in the Schelde River (1904) at the age of 54, 14 years
after Vincents death
Ironically, Vincent prophesied about Siens fate in Letter 216
As long as I drown at the same
time, I dont care. But we felt
distinctly enough that her life
and my life are as
ONE
Vincent Van Gogh