Head of a Peasant Woman

Van Gogh made numerous studies of peasant faces during his Nuenen period of 1884-85, the period culminating in The Potato Eaters. Head of a Peasant Woman belongs to this intensive preparation — dozens of portrait studies of local Dutch villagers executed in the dark, earthen palette he associated with the grinding labor of those lives. Van Gogh was deeply influenced by Millet's social-realist approach to rural subjects, and these heads are his attempt to honor the same subjects without sentimentality. The Scottish National Gallery holds this as an important example of his pre-Impressionist Dutch work.

The face is modeled in dark earthy tones — raw umber, ochre, and dark green — with heavy impasto that gives the surface physical presence. Van Gogh's drawing is firm and direct, capturing the weathered features of a working life without flattery. The background is simplified and dark, focusing attention entirely on the face.