Peasant Woman Gleaning

Catalogue numbers: F 1665a, JH 834.

In Nuenen van Gogh was able to paint and draw more from the figure; the rural labourers of Brabant were often unemployed and, because they needed money, they agreed to pose for the painter. The most important work of this period in Nuenen was a multi-figure composition of peasants at home eating their meal - The Potato-Eaters. The picture was harshly criticized. Van Rappard, friend and fellow artist, questioned van Gogh’s right to claim comparison with Millet. To answer this, van Gogh began a series of large drawings of men and women digging, cutting wood, gleaning - tasks which Millet had represented in his series of drawings, Labours of the Fields.