In Nuenen van Gogh was able to paint and draw more from the figure; the rural labourers of Brabant were often unemployed and, because they needed money, they agreed to pose for the painter. The most important work of this period in Nuenen was a multi-figure composition of peasants at home eating their meal - The Potato Eaters. Van Gogh did a series of portraits of local peasants and countless studies for The Potato Eaters which exists in two versions.
Van Gogh considered The Potato Eaters his most successful painting, and it was the only one of his paintings that he considered worth showing in public and the only one he could imagine taking its place in the tradition of Millet.
Summary of works by Vincent van Gogh |
Early paintings (1881-85) |
Etten, The Hague | Nuenen | The Potato Eaters | Antwerp |
Paris (1886-87) |
Flower and other still-lifes | Various |
Arles (1888-89) |
Orchards in Blossom | Portraits |
January-August 1888 | September 1888-April 1889 |
Asylum in Saint-Rémy (1889-90) |
Environs | Cypresses and olive groves |
Copies after other artists | Miscellaneous |
Auvers-sur-Oise (1890) |
Last paintings (May-July 1890) |
Self-portraits (1886-89) |
Self-portraits in chronological order |
Graphics |
Lithographs | Watercolours | Drawings | 1 | 2 | 3 |