Peasant Woman Kneeling and Pulling Carrots

1885

Not on view

Van Gogh embarked on an intensive drawing campaign in the summer of 1885 following the disappointing reception of his painting "The Potato Eaters." The criticism he received, particularly for his execution of the figures in that work, seems to have spurred a return to figure drawing focused on peasant laborers working outdoors. The precise nature of this woman’s action is hard to discern, but she has been described as pulling carrots due to annotations on related drawings. Occupying the full, large sheet, she is endowed with a monumental quality. On his ambition for the drawings, the artist wrote, "I do not want them academically correct… it is my great desire to learn how to make… changes in reality that they might become… truer than the literal truth." (Letter 418).

Artwork Details

Title: Peasant Woman Kneeling and Pulling Carrots
Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
Date: 1885
Medium: Black chalk and brush and wash
Dimensions: Sheet: 14 15/16 × 18 1/8 in. (38 × 46 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of the Constance B. and Carroll L. Cartwright Collection in memory of George F. Bauerdorf, 2025
Object Number: 2025.233.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Vincent van Gogh

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace, Vincent van Gogh Dutch, Oil on canvas — Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace
Vincent van Gogh
1885

The Potato Peeler (reverse: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat), Vincent van Gogh Dutch, Oil on canvas — The Potato Peeler (reverse: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat)
Vincent van Gogh
1885

Irises, Vincent van Gogh Dutch, Oil on canvas — Irises
Vincent van Gogh
1890

Hiawatha, Edmonia Lewis American, Marble, American — Hiawatha
Edmonia Lewis
1868

Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso), Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia) Italian, Pen and brown ink, over traces of charcoal or black chalk (recto); pen and brown ink, brush with touches of brown wash, over traces of charcoal or black chalk (verso) — Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso)
Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia)
1435–38

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