Camponesa Sentada (Peasant Woman Seated) - Vincent van Gogh

Camponesa Sentada (Peasant Woman Seated) - Vincent van Gogh
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OST - 32x25 - 1885

The present portrait of a peasant woman seated on a chair was painted in June 1885, during the potato harvest. Van Gogh created numerous studies of hands and heads of peasants absorbed in their work but only very few of full-length figures, culminating in what would become his first masterpiece, The Potato Eaters. He preferred presenting figures in profile, their dark silhouettes contrasting with the monochrome background. Similarly, the sitter in the present work averts her gaze from the viewer and appears absorbed in her surroundings creating a sense of isolation with which the artist most likely identified.

Van Gogh came to Nuenen to master the technique of drawing and considered this a priority before attempting to proceed painting in oil. While most preparatory works were drawings, in this case, he clearly felt ready to move on to painting and the present work is a testament to his growing artistic maturity. It is one of only a dozen oil paintings he produced as part of this series, several of which are in museums including the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and Musée d’Orsay, Paris.