Date of creation: April 1885

Place of creation: Nuenen, Nunan

Specification of works: 72x93cm

Current collection: Amsterdam, National Vincent Van Gogh Art Collection. Introduction to Amsterdam,Van Gogh Museum

This potato eater is the most important work of Van Gogh before he came into contact with Impressionism. Compared with the previous works with the theme of weavers, the obvious difference of this painting is that the characters become the protagonists. Although it is too close to the model, which leads to the deviation of the perspective ratio, Van Gogh added his own subjective feelings to this painting, instead of sticking to the realism of "watching calmly". The family is in such a tragic situation, but it is so serene and calm, which makes the viewer feel infinite about life and fate. Van Gogh said: "What I want to learn hard is not to draw a portrait with the right proportion, but to draw vivid expressions. To put it simply, it is not to depict inanimate things, but to draw a vivid life. "

this painting was conceived in about 188, and there are several variant paintings before and after it. The exact completion time should be from April to May in 1885, which is 83× 114.5cm in size. Now in the National Vincent Van Gogh Museum of Art in Amsterdam.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote: "I want to emphasize that these people who eat potatoes under the lamp dig the land with their hands reaching out to the plate. Therefore, this work describes manual workers and how they earn their own food honestly. "

creative background in December 1883, 3-year-old Van Gogh came to Newnan where his parents lived and spent two years here. In the meantime, he kept painting. Influenced by Dutch realistic painting style, his paintings are deep, powerful and full of local flavor. This potato eater is a masterpiece of this period. In order to complete this work, he painted a lot of exercises, including sketches, sketches, portraits of many farmers, as well as indoors, hands, bottles, kettles and so on. In fact, only Van Gogh's words can best explain his purpose in creating this painting:

"I want to clearly explain how those people eat potatoes under the light, cultivate the land with their hands put on plates … earn their food honestly." "I paint oil paintings during the day and sketch at night, and I am immersed in painting almost all day. I have painted in this way for more than 3 times ... Every night, I paint under the lights of the farmhouse, and I almost stop when the night is too dark to see the color palette, so that I can understand the effect of the lights at night ..."

This painting was influenced by realism in April and May of 1885, but it certainly did not meet the Dutch tradition of accurate and realistic painting. Therefore, there is a book that says, "The Potato Eater is the first painting that Van Gogh tried to create in an expressionist style."

Appreciation of Works Van Gogh was in contact with the lower classes in his early days and was deeply touched by the poor life of laborers. He was influenced by Miller and wanted to be a farmer painter. This painting is his masterpiece of this period. In the picture, the picture composition is simple, the roof is low, the space in the room is crowded, and the background is thin and light, which sets off a simple and honest peasant family, sitting around a narrow dining table and eating potatoes. A lamp hangs on the table, and the dim light shines on the gaunt faces of farmers, which is very prominent.

These people who eat potatoes under a dim light have thick jointed hands and noses suitable for breathing in heavy work. They face the simple food made of potatoes, and their eyes show the light of longing and the kindness of gratitude. In this painting, a simple and honest peasant family is sitting around a narrow dining table, and a lamp hanging on the table becomes the focus of the picture. The dim light shone on the gaunt faces of farmers, making them stand out. The low roof makes the room more crowded. The gloomy tone gives people a dull and depressing feeling. The picture composition is concise and the image is pure servant. The painter depicts the wrinkled faces and bony bodies of the characters with rough and vigorous brushstrokes. The background color is thin and light, which sets off the characters in the foreground. Van Gogh said, "I don't want to make the characters in the painting real." A real painter paints objects not according to the actual situation of the objects, … but according to his own feelings. I admire Michelangelo's characters, even though their legs are too long and their hips are too big. " Someone accused him of inaccurate images in this painting, and his answer was: "If my characters are accurate, I will feel desperate ... I just want to create these inaccuracies and deviations, reshape and change the reality. Yes, they can be untrue, you can say so-but it is more real than the real truth."

The painter depicts the wrinkled faces and bony bodies of the characters with rough and vigorous brushstrokes. The dark tones around give people a dull and depressing feeling. It fully reflects Van Gogh's sense of social morality, and a certain spiritual and emotional harmony between him and the poor workers. Van Gogh himself called this painting "the birth of expressionism".

The painting style fully reflects Van Gogh's sense of social morality. He chose to paint those farmers, mainly because he found that there was some kind of spiritual and emotional harmony between himself and these poor workers. In a letter to his brother Theo, he wrote: "I want to emphasize that these people who eat potatoes under the lamp dig the land with their hands reaching out to the plate. Therefore, this work describes manual workers and how they earn their own food honestly. "

Van Gogh decided to become a "farmer painter" after studying Miller's works in 188. When he conceived this painting, he seemed to feel that he was a family with the characters in the painting, and he was as poor and honest as them. In order to describe this theme, he paid attention to the shape and posture of farmers. Fill the sketches on his paintings with rough brushstrokes and strong colors. Due to repeated smearing, the color has become cloudy and lacks certain transparency. Draw a family sitting around a small table, and the surrounding space is crowded. The low roof gives people a sense of oppression. There is a gas lamp hanging in the middle, a peasant woman on the right is pouring tea, and a man on the left is cutting potatoes. The family worked hard, and there were only potatoes on the dinner table. The image of an old woman with a bowl at the back and a woman with a headscarf near her left looks so old and ugly.

The Potato Eater is Van Gogh's first creation influenced by Miller. But in terms of composition characteristics, it has many similarities with Rembrandt's "Christ of Amos". In any case, Van Gogh did place his deep feelings for the poor in this painting.