Portrait of Gijsbertus de Groot

Painted in Nuenen in 1885, this portrait of Gijsbertus de Groot — a local peasant whose family appears in The Potato Eaters — represents one of Van Gogh's most sustained engagements with a single sitter. De Groot and his relatives were central to Van Gogh's Nuenen project of depicting peasant life without romanticization. By portraying individual farmers by name, Van Gogh gave identity and dignity to people normally invisible in academic painting. The portrait is now held at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, one of several Van Gogh peasant studies that entered American collections.

The portrait is built in dark, somber tones — umber, olive, and black — consistent with Van Gogh's Nuenen palette. The face is modeled with deliberate, rough strokes that emphasize the sitter's weathered character rather than physical beauty. Strong chiaroscuro defines the features against a dark, undifferentiated background.