A Peasant Woman Digging in Front of Her Cottage

Painted in Nuenen in 1885, this small canvas belongs to the intensely productive period when Van Gogh was systematically studying peasant labor as his primary subject matter. The painting of a woman digging in front of her cottage is part of the preparatory work that culminated in The Potato Eaters, as Van Gogh worked to understand the movements and physiognomy of the local farming population. He believed that only by drawing and painting such subjects repeatedly could he grasp the authentic character of rural life. The Art Institute of Chicago's painting exemplifies his dark, earthen Nuenen palette.

Van Gogh works in the heavy, earth-toned palette of his Dutch period — browns, umbers, and dark greens — applying paint with short, vigorous strokes that convey the physical effort of the digging motion.