During his sojourn in The Hague van Gogh had tried to represent a modern city as it changed and expanded. His attention was focused on the uneven edges where town and country met, often awkwardly: straggling housing developments, iron-rolling mills in meadows beside windmills, new streets, as yet unbuilt, marked out by lamp-posts.

He had been experimenting with oil during his stay in The Hague, whose modern urban life he had tried to depict, but not to his satisfaction. In September 1883 he moved out of the city to the northern province of Drenthe, where he painted this study of moss-covered thatched farm buildings.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Still-Life with Yellow Straw Hat November-December 1881, Etten Oil on canvas, 37 x 54 cm Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo
	Man Digging August 1882, The Hague Oil on paper on panel, 30 x 29 cm Private collection
	Edge of a Wood August 1882, The Hague Oil on canvas, 35 x 49 cm Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo
	Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather August 1882, The Hague Oil on canvas on cardboard, 35 x 51 cm Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
	Bulb Fields April 1883, The Hague Oil on canvas on panel, 48 x 65 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
	Farmhouses in Loosduinen near The Hague at Twilight August 1883, The Hague Oil on canvas on panel, 33 x 50 cm Centraal Museum, Utrecht
	Farmhouses among Trees September 1883, The Hague Oil on canvas on panel, 29 x 40 cm Private collection
	Farmhouses September 1883, Drenthe Oil on canvas on pasteboard, 36 x 56 cm Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
	Two Peasant Women in the Peat Field October 1883, Drenthe Oil on canvas, 28 x 37 cm Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam