Who is Van Gogh s The Potato Eater now in his collection?

The current collection is in the Vincent Van Gogh Art Collection, Amsterdam.

The Potato Eaters is an oil painting by the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in 1885. The painting depicts a poor peasant family eating potatoes at night in dim light.

The Potato Eaters (Dutch: de aardappeleters, English: The Potato Eaters) is an oil painting by the Dutch late impressionist painter Vincent Wilhelm van Gogh in April 1885.

The Potato Eaters is oil on canvas, oil on canvas size.

The painting is in the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) in Amsterdam.

In this painting, Van Gogh uses crude models to show real civilians. The painter himself said, "The point I want to convey is that by the light of an oil lamp, the potato eaters grab the potatoes from the plates with their same hands that work on the land and they honestly fend for themselves". The painting was the work of Van Gogh during his residency in North Brabant, and it is also the artist's self-esteem best.

Vincent van Gogh National Art Collection, Amsterdam.

This "Potato Eater" is Van Gogh's depiction of the misery of peasant life, expressing Van Gogh's own subjective emotions, and at the same time expressing infinite feelings about life and life. It adds vitality and emotion to the whole painting, and shows us no longer the stiff painting techniques and styles, but the vivid life of the peasants.

In this painting, Van Gogh uses crude models to show real civilians. The painter himself said"The point I want to convey is that by the light of an oil lamp, the potato eaters grab the potatoes from their plates with their same hands that work on the land, and they honestly fend for themselves".

The picture is full of religious sentiment and reverence for the peasants. After his brother Theo saw his latest work, he urged him to send it to the salon several times. He wrote back:

I want to clearly illustrate how those people ate potatoes under the light, ploughed the land with their hands that they put on their plates, ......Earn their food honestly. I'm going to tell people about a way of life that's very different from civilized people, so I don't expect anyone to like it or praise it all at once. "The picture looks clumsy, but there's a force.

What he sought was a painting of a real peasant. He grasps the object not with lines, but with the environment. He rejects the academic accuracy of the characters, and deliberately creates "deviations" to reshape and change reality in order to achieve real truth.

This was the birth of Expressionism.

The Potato Eaters is Van Gogh's best masterpiece of his time in Nunan. A simple and honest peasant family sits around a small dining table, and a lamp hanging on the table becomes the focus of the picture. The dim light shone on the peasants' haggard countenances, making them stand out.

The low ceiling makes the space even more cramped. The gray tones give people a dull and oppressive feeling. The composition of the picture is concise and the image is simple.

The painter depicts the wrinkled faces and bony bodies of the figures with clumsy and vigorous brushstrokes. The background color is thin and light, which sets off the figures in the foreground.

People who eat potatoes.

However, the ability required for this painting was far beyond the reach of Van Gogh, who had just mastered the art of painting. It would be almost impossible for an inexperienced person to make the 5 people depicted look natural, and the faint light from the oil lamp made the work even more difficult. Wanting to depict a gloomy scene as clearly as possible, he was less confident in his use of color.

Therefore, in order to complete this work, Van Gogh made many portraits of peasants and peasant women, sketches of interiors and hands, and still lifes of bottles and kettles.

<> peasant woman in a white hat.

Peasant woman standing in the door.

Young farmer in a pointed hat.

The four peasants sitting around the table, with their inquiring eyes, the heavy eyelids of the peasant woman at the right end, and the wrinkled, uneven face and hands of the peasant woman fully show the hard-working laborers of the earth"Strength"。He wanted the painting to emphasize"The hand stretched out on the saucer had dug for the dirt. "At the same time, the scenery outside the window also makes you feel the aroma of boiled potatoes.

<> a pair of hands. <>

Peasant woman eating.

Farmers and peasant women growing potatoes.

churches and farmland.

Twilight. <>

Copper coffee pot and two white bowls.

For the final result of this work, Van Gogh also prepared a series of sketches.

Sketch. <>

His first unrestrained sketches faithfully represent real life scenes. In the new work, he changed the composition and added a fifth person to the original 4. At the same time, he used a new style to depict coffee drinkers.

Sketch. The second sketch depicts the interior of a farmer's hut and Van Gogh felt that he had captured the vitality of life. He was proud of his first attempt at composition"Now"He explained to his brother"I should be able to give myself an accurate impression of what I see"。

Although not very precise, he still persisted"There's some vitality of life in it"。As soon as the second sketch was finished, he immediately made a print out of it.

A second sketch made of an engraving.

In contrast to Millet's hoe-bearers, Van Gogh's potato eaters tried to depict the peasants' moments of rest at home, their humility, their nature, which Van Gogh worked hard to depict"Really painting peasants"The key.

Oil on canvas of The Potato Eater.