A Woman with a Spade, Seen From Behind

Van Gogh's 1885 depiction of a woman with a spade, seen from behind, focuses on the physical engagement of labor from an unusual viewpoint — the turned back removing the face, making the posture of effort rather than individual personality the subject. Viewing a figure from behind was a compositional strategy Van Gogh explored alongside Millet, who used it to universalize figures of labor. The spade held by the unseen hands, the body bent to its task, becomes an image of pure labor rather than individual portraiture. The Art Gallery of Ontario holds this as part of its collection of European painting.

The rear view of the figure focuses all attention on posture and the relationship between body and implement. Van Gogh renders the anonymous back and shoulders with the same careful observation he gave to faces, finding in the body's working posture its own expressive truth. The dark Dutch palette is consistent with his Nuenen period.