Peasant Woman Digging

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Nuenen, July-September 1885

chalk on paper, 55.7 cm x 41.0 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Van Gogh struggled for a long time to represent figures convincingly: they tended to look too flat. He realised in 1885 that he needed to build them up from large round forms rather than contours. This burly peasant woman is a successful example. The proportions may not be accurate, but this was deliberate: Van Gogh wanted to make the drawing more expressive.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent described his drawings of farm workers as 'the start of a whole series about all kinds of work in the fields'. He hoped that scenes of this kind would establish his reputation as an artist of peasant life.

F-number
F1255
JH-number
JH0826
Object number
d0171V1962
Dimensions
55.7 cm x 41.0 cm
Provenance
With his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, after September 1885; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; given on loan by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, since 22 October 1931; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh on 10 July 1962 to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam; agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
artist
Vincent van Gogh
Credits (obliged to state)
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

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