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Van Gogh: The Potato Eaters, 1885
Oil on Canvas, 82 X 114 cm
Photo: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
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The Potato Eaters is Van Gogh's first large-scale painting with multiple figures. He deliberately chose a composition which would challenge his growing prowess as a painter. And like the French master Jean-François Millet, Van Gogh wanted to be a true 'peasant painter'. This meant Van Gogh tried to paint his subjects with deep feeling, but without sentimentality. He spoke of them leading "a way of life completely different from ours, from that of civilized people." He strove to paint the faces, "the color of a good, dusty potato, unpeeled naturally," and to convey the idea that these people had "used the same hands with which they now take food from the plate to dig the earth [...] and had thus earned their meal honestly." |
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