Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh Postcard

The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas 1885, is a painting of a family of Dutch peasants gathered around their dinner table, eating potatoes and pouring coffee beneath an oil lamp in their humble cottage. Potato Eaters was the first ambitious composition with multiple figures after years of studies of single figures and portraits drawn from life while living among the people of Nuenen in the artist’s native Holland. Painted in thick strokes of impasto oil paint with deliberately crude, emphatic drawing capturing the character and earthiness of the subjects, the painting makes broad use of dramatic chiaroscuro reminiscent of Rembrandt and areas of heavy, dark earth colours such as dark brown and umber. Potato Eaters is the seminal masterpiece of Van Gogh’s early Dutch period, before moving to Paris and learning the methods and colour theories of the Impressionists. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch painter of the Post-Impressionist movement known for bold, expressive drawing, swirling brushstrokes and bold, heightened colours. In early adulthood Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and pastor before taking up the full time study of drawing and painting in his late twenties. Influenced by Rembrandt, the 19th century Realists and Barbizon school, Van Gogh's early paintings featured studies of workers and peasants in sombre earth tones. Moving to France in 1886, Van Gogh met with the startling innovations of the Impressionist painters and began to apply their approach to colour and subject matter, which continued into the mature style for which the artist is most renowned. Van Gogh produced many hundreds of drawings and paintings including portraits, landscapes, still life and flower paintings, and numerous self-portraits that became a dominating influence on the modern art of the 20th century and made him one of the most popular artists of all time.