Van Gogh--Woman Winding Yarn, 1885

Van Gogh--Woman Winding Yarn, 1885 Woman Winding Yarn, 1885

In Nuenen, weaving was an important cottage industry. Van Gogh was much occupied by weavers and their looms, or with women spinning or winding yarn--'exceptionally poor folk,' as he characterized them. In a letter to Theo he wrote: 'Their life is hard. A weaver who stays hard at work makes a piece of about 60 yards a week. While he weaves, his wife has to sit before him, winding--in other words, winding the spools of yarn--so there are two of them who work and have to make a living from it.' There was little work for the weavers, and thye earned little from it. The woman sits close to the window for the light; the window itself is just out of the painting. She can be identified as mother De Groot, the woman who pours coffee in The Potato Eaters.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Back to Van Gogh--Early Works

Source: www.artmuseum.net
Jillian Weaver
Last updated: Sun., March 21, 1999