Peasant Woman by the Fireplace

Painted in Nuenen in 1885, this sombre interior study belongs to Van Gogh's Dutch period, before he encountered Impressionism. He was obsessed with depicting the lives of peasants and workers, and the firelight scenes of Nuenen reflect his admiration for Millet and Rembrandt. The woman by the hearth embodies the grinding routine of rural poverty that Van Gogh felt compelled to document honestly. These dark-toned works, rooted in the tradition of Dutch genre painting, stand in stark contrast to the brilliant colour of his later career, showing his range and his emotional investment in humble subjects.

The palette is limited to earthen browns, deep umbers, and warm orange-red firelight. Heavy impasto models the seated figure with rough, emphatic strokes. Van Gogh deliberately avoided prettifying; the light source from the fire creates dramatic chiaroscuro, emphasising texture of fabric, wood, and skin with an almost sculptural roughness.