Van Gogh--Woman Sewing
Woman Sewing, 1885
The woman appears as a dark silhouette against the window, the light falling on her sewing. At the time he made this study, Van Gogh was much occupied with the problem of painting a backlit figure in an interior. "Especially figures at a contre jour. I have studies of heads, both lit and against the light, and I have worked on the whole figure a number of times, a seamstress, winding yarn or peeling potatoes. En face and en profil. I do not know whether or not I shall ever finish it, as this is a difficult effect, although I believe I have learned one or two things by it," he wrote to Theo in 1885.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Oil on Canvas, 43 x 34 cm
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Source: www.artmuseum.net
Jillian Weaver
Last updated: Sun., March 21, 1999