Description of the painting by Van Gogh "Potato eaters"

Van Gogh considered the picture "Potato Eaters" the best of his work. In it, he embodied the whole power of compassion for ordinary workers.

Year of writing and circumstances

The picture "Potato Eaters" became the final chord of the artist's stay in Nyuenen (North Brabant, The Netherlands). At that time he was still in search of his manner. For two years, Van Gogh worked hard, not releasing a pencil and a brush from his hand. He wrote everything that surrounded him in that small peasant town: weaving looms, a church, hedges, poplars ... Even painted two women digging potatoes. But it was like a simple village life, which he wanted to grab and pass on canvas. The artist has matured in desire instead of fragmentary etudes to create an integral and capacious painting that would express the very spirit of peasant life in the Brabant province. And the masterpiece was born in November 1885.

Sitters

The people depicted in the picture "Potato Eaters" are not fictional. Van Gogh made friends with the local de Groot family. They were ordinary peasants, thousands of them. Their family consisted of a father, a mother, two daughters and a son. Hard work on earth was their lot from generation to generation. They lived in a shack, which you can call a house with a stretch. There was only one room, which combined the role of the kitchen, dining room, bedroom and living room, and all its simple decoration consisted of a table, chairs, several boxes and beds.

They kindly agreed to pose for the artist, although every evening came from work exhausted and tired. De Grooty in the literal sense - potato eaters. Vincent Van Gogh waited for them to return from the field and sit down to dinner, and took up the brush, making sketches.

The suffered canvas

The idea to write the de Groot family for their usual meager meal has matured definitively. And although the artist accurately imagined what he wanted to convey, the work was not given to him the first time. It is known that Vincent made at least 12 sketches, but everyone went into the fire. It was only on the last evening in the village that he seized the atmosphere of a miserable family feast, and he took this canvas with him to Paris. There is a sketch of the painting, which the author sent to his brother Theo.

"Potato eaters," Vincent Van Gogh: is it a satire?

For many years, the traditional interpretation of the picture was the image of primitive, wild peasants at the time of the absorption of food. In their views and movements, they saw animal habits, and in their faces - distorted features. Therefore this work of Van Gogh was considered satirical.

In fact, the author of his sitters did not consider himself half-human. On the contrary, he had a warm relationship with their eldest daughter Steen, they often walked together. Vincent often watched them both in the field and at home. He respected both the family itself and their forced hard work, because they were hostages of circumstances. This is known from the letters of Van Gogh to his brother Theo.

By his work, Van Gogh wanted to convey "couples from potatoes" in worn out peasant hands. He did not want to put them on a pedestal, but only to show a frame from the village everyday life (although the holidays in their way of life, most likely, was not by default).

The name of the composition - "Eaters of Potatoes" - voices the harsh truth of the life of the peasants of that time. Planting, digging and eating this vegetable was their eternal life lot. But in this way they earned honest bread, and this is worthy of sympathy and respect.

Van Gogh, "Potato Eaters": a description

The canvas shows a late evening: outside the window it's dark, at seven o'clock, the room is lit by the dim light of the lamp. It's cold outside, and at home it's not hot, judging by how the characters are dressed. It's probably late autumn. The house itself is rather poor, the furniture is modest, there are no elements of luxury. In such a house there is nothing to steal, nevertheless on the windows there are lattices. Perhaps this housing does not belong to them, and they just take it off.

After an exhausting day, the family came home and went to supper. The main dish of their meal is invariable - this, of course, is baked potatoes. They can not afford meat, cheese or milk. The only luxury is brewed black coffee. And such an evening is one of a thousand such. Tomorrow the potato eaters will rise again, they will go to the field, as always, to extract dusty tubers from the ground.

They, though exhausted by hard work, have already grown accustomed to this endless string of life and obediently walk together in this harness. At the same time, they did not lose their human dignity, they did not descend to theft or begging, and day after day they work in the sweat. The faint light of the lamp is like a spark of hope for a better future, barely smoldering in their hearts.

In the large, bulging eyes of the girl, looking into the void, you see despair and frenzy. Her massive hands are not at all like women's. Perhaps she is wondering if her children are waiting for the same kind of life. The rest of the characters are just busy eating. Mother pours coffee on cups, downcast eyes, father already drinks a hot drink. Their life revolving around potatoes is monotonous and unhappy, but they have long accepted this as a reality and have reconciled.

Land tones, in which the whole picture is executed, gives the impression that it is written in the color of this root crop. This is very organically combined with the name and idea of the canvas. Van Gogh really managed to transfer the same steam from the smoking potato, which fills the modest home with autumn warmth and slightly warms the soul.