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A Peasant Woman Digging in Front of Her Cottage

Painting in tones of gray and brown, with some green and blue, of a woman digging with a garden tool before a structure with a thatched roof that descends almost to the ground. Above her the sky is gray and blue, a haze of clouds.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Painting in tones of gray and brown, with some green and blue, of a woman digging with a garden tool before a structure with a thatched roof that descends almost to the ground. Above her the sky is gray and blue, a haze of clouds.

Date:

c. 1885

Artist:

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

About this artwork

Driven by the loneliness and poverty he had experienced living in the Hague, Vincent van Gogh returned to his parents’ home in Nuenen, the Netherlands, in late 1883 and devoted himself entirely to painting. In Nuenen, the artist also returned to the more monochromatic palette of browns, greens, and grays that he had used in his early years in the Netherlands. He painted a series of cottages— including this painting—based on his walks through the village. He described this series to his brother: “I feel for the brood and the nests—particularly those human nests, those cottages on the heath and their inhabitants.” Van Gogh carefully infused the woman, the cottage, and the setting with the same earthy tones and the loose, directional texture of the brushstrokes. In doing so, he emphasized the way she belonged to this place, and it to her.

Status

On View, Gallery 241

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Title

A Peasant Woman Digging in Front of Her Cottage

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1880–1890

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

31.3 × 42 cm (12 5/16 × 16 1/2 in.); Framed: 52.1 × 62.6 × 10.8 cm (20 1/2 × 24 5/8 × 4 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Dr. John J. Ireland

Reference Number

1968.92

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/28862/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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