 The Potato
Eaters, 1885
Conceived as a summation of van Gogh’s work and study up to that time, with a deep
affinity with poor people, whose lives, like his own, were burdened with care, he
emphasize the nuances of the dark interior of the cottage, to make the darkness tangible
in the same spirit that his masters Rembrandt had achieved.
In the letter to his
brother, Theo, said “I have tried to emphasize that these people, eating their
potatoes in the lamplight, have dug the earth with those same hands they put in the dish,
and so it speaks of manual labour and of how they have honestly earned their
food,”. He wrote shortly after, “I like so much better to paint the eyes
of people than to paint cethedrals”. |
  |
|
|
