Van Gogh--Head of a Peasant Woman

Van Gogh--Head of a Peasant Woman Head of a Peasant Woman, 1885

Gordina de Groot was one of the daughters of the De Groot family, who posed for The Potato Eaters. Gordina was Van Gogh's favorite model in Nuenen, and at least 20 studies of her are known to exist. This portrait is one of the few the artist signed. He almost certainly recognized in Gordina the type of peasant woman he so admired in the work of his idol Jean-Francois Millet: those with "course, flat faces, low foreheads and thick lips, not sharp but full."

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Oil on Canvas, 43 x 30 cm

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