VINCENT VAN GOGH | Peasant Digging up Potatoes

H. P. Bremmer, The Hague (acquired by 1911; until 1956) Private Collection (by descent from the above)

John Streep, New York (acquired in 1957)

Knoedler & Co., New York (1962)

Robert Streuber, New York (sold: Sotheby's, London, 23rd October 1963, lot 73)

W. Spiers (purchased at the above sale. Sold: Sotheby's, London, 4th April 1979, lot 216)

Private Collection, Switzerland

Sale: Habsburg, Geneva, 12th November 1989, lot 20

World House Gallery, New Jersey

Avanti Galleries Inc., New York (acquired in 1989)

Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1989)

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1992

Amsterdam, Van Wisselingh & Co., Vincent van Gogh. Acquarelles & dessins de l'époque 1881-1885 provenant de collections particulières néerlandaises, 1961, no. 37, illustrated in the catalogue New York, Avanti Galleries Inc., Vincent van Gogh: Works from the Dutch Period, 1995, no. 7, illustrated in the catalogue

Jacob-Baart de la Faille, L'Œuvre de Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue raisonné, Paris & Brussels, 1928, vol. III, no. 1304, catalogued p. 106; vol. IV, no. 1304, illustrated pl. CXIX

Walther Vanbeselaere, De hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh, Antwerp, 1937, pp. 275 & 413

Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings, London, 1970, no. F 1304, illustrated p. 456

Jan Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York & Oxford, 1980, no. 847, illustrated p. 191 Jan Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York, 1984, no. 847, illustrated p. 191

Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Amsterdam, 1996, no. 847, illustrated p. 191

Sjraar van Heugten (ed.), Vincent van Gogh Drawings. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam & London, 1997, vol. II, no. 177b, illustrated p. 218 (titled Man Lifting Potatoes); mentioned pp. 196, 215 & 218

Striving to improve his proficiency as a draughtsman Van Gogh moved to Nuenen and began working from life, immersing himself within the community: ‘I have been keeping watch on these peasant figures and their actions here for one and a half years now, precisely to get some character into it’ (Van Gogh quoted in J. van der Wolk & R. Pickvance, Vincent van Gogh – Drawings, New York, 1990, p. 131). Detailed in strong strokes of black chalk, Peasant Digging up Potatoes demonstrates Van Gogh’s deliberate experiments with form. The body of the man is given volume and the artist pays attention to the way in which the figure’s clothes react to his movements. The creasing in the material and the lift of the elbow extend the strong diagonal of the rake adding dynamism to the scene. The present work is one of several similar drawings produced during this period depicting workers in the field, many of which are at the Van Gogh Museum, and yet Peasant Digging up Potatoes is an exceptional example of the artist's rich execution and composition. Unlike other explorations of the subject matter, here Van Gogh gives form to the potatoes in the foreground, their round bodies standing out against the hatching, and he develops the background more extensively through the conical sheaves of wheat giving a suggestion of compositional depth that is often lacking in the more two-dimensional works on paper from this period.  



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.