Peasant Interior with a Woman Sewing

Catalogue numbers: F 1204, JH 708.

Van Gogh showed, in several drawings and paintings, women absorbed in work in the solitude of their homes. Sewing, spooling thread, peeling potatoes, shelling beans and preparing food were among the most frequently depicted subjects. During the day, light shone into the dark rooms through the windows, whereas lamp- or firelight illuminated the models in the evening.

Van Gogh produced at his father's Nuenen vicarage seven black chalk drawings and three oil paintings of female figures - sewing and knitting - seated by a window.